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I'm confused about using setxkbmap. When I use it in my terminal emulator under X, it works:

setxkbmap -layout gr -option # switches layout to greek

However, if I switch to tty2, execute the command (with proper DISPLAY set) and switch back to X, layout does not change:

DISPLAY=:0 setxkbmap -layout gr -option

What am I doing wrong?

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  • Setting DISPLAY is not enough. Have you set XAUTHORITY, too? Is this the same user in tty and X? Can you start any X program from tty?
    – Hauke Laging
    Oct 23, 2017 at 20:47
  • @HaukeLaging - Yes, I tried setting XAUTHORITY, too, confirmed that it was the same in tty and X. Yes, the same user, and all X programs start just fine. setxkbmap also exits without errors (without DISPLAY it complained about unable to open default display).
    – Rogach
    Oct 23, 2017 at 21:03
  • I suggest you run setxkbmap through strace in tty and an X terminal emulator and compare the outputs.
    – Hauke Laging
    Oct 24, 2017 at 18:25
  • @HaukeLaging - did that, output is identical (modulo memory addresses)
    – Rogach
    Oct 25, 2017 at 8:17

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The X server must be active when you execute that command from a TTY.

export DISPLAY=:0 # Your Display
sleep 1 && setxkbmap us # Change keyboard layout

So I recommend you to execute that command and then, immediately switch to your X display for the changes to be applied.

You can see this behaviour on the xclip -o command. When executed on the TTY, it waits before the X server is active to print out the content of the primary clipboard.

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