Chapter 12. Using special characters in GNOME

Procedure

1. Open the Tweaks application.
2. Select Keyboard & Mouse in the side bar.
3. Enable Compose Key.

4. Choose which key from the listed keys triggers the Compose functionality.

   

Procedure

1. Allow all clients to connect to the X server:

   # xhost +

2. Run the following command to set the Compose Key:

   # su - <username> -c "gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options \"['compose:<compose_key>']\""

   Replace <username> with the username of the user for whom you want to enable the Compose Key. Replace <compose_key> with the key you want to use as the Compose Key. You can use the ralt option to designate the right Alt key as the Compose Key.

   To see other Compose Key options that you can use to set up a Compose Key on your keyboard, use:

   $ grep compose /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst

3. Resets the access control:

   # xhost -

Procedure

1. Open the /etc/dconf/db/local.d/00-input-sources file as the root user.

2. Enter the following content in the file:

   [org/gnome/desktop/input-sources]
   # Enable the Compose key
   xkb-options=['compose:selected-key']

   Replace selected-key with the key that triggers Compose. For example, use ralt to set the right Alt key.

3. To override the user’s Compose settings and prevent the user from changing them, create the /etc/dconf/db/local.d/locks/input-sources file and enter the following:

   # Lock the list of enabled XKB options
   /org/gnome/desktop/input-sources/xkb-options

4. Update the system databases for the changes to take effect:

   # dconf update

5. Users must log out and back in again before the system-wide settings take effect.