Merge this layout in the upstream xkeyboard project

[MasterKia]

The upstream project for all keyboard layouts is the xkeyboard project.

If they agree to merge the "Windows Persian layout" then it'll be released, picked up by all GNU/Linux distributions soon after and then be available to everyone as the change trickles down to all users.

I created an issue about that on their repo two weeks ago:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/xkeyboard-config/-/issues/367

The response:

The repo you are linking to does not provide any license information, so we cannot just grab and include that layout. You will need to get the author of that layout to post a merge request here.

Could you add a LICENSE file to this repo so that they could include the layout by themselves? Otherwise you'd have to make a merge request by yourself.

Also, can you confirm that the layout on the linked github site is the same as what Windows has?
And that GNU/Linux has this one? (I cannot read Persian, so for me it's nearly impossible to compare.)

I compared the standard Windows Persian layout to your layout, the only difference is in the Shift+G key; It should return ۀ but it returns ة instead.

There's an already open pull request by @cs127 to fix the above issue:
#9

Could you merge the PR?

[sinadarvi]

First, thank you for your effort. I understand the issues. I will provide a license in this repo and I will ask @cs127 to check with the newer version. but the big problem here is that I don't have a Linux system anymore and because of my workflow and my schedule, I'm not able to install one. And some people telling me this repo not working on their system (#13) and I can't verify it myself.

[cs127]

I will ask @cs127 to check with the newer version.

I just updated my PR to the latest version a few minutes ago!

[sinadarvi]

@cs127
oh, so you may didn't see my comment (#9 (comment)

[MasterKia]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the keyboard layout itself, as I could install it successfully on Fedora 37.

Once it's ready to be merged upstream (License provided and Shift+G corrected), the xkeyboard oroject will surely notify us about any errors; if there's none then we would be good to go.

[cs127]

@cs127 oh, so you may didn't see my comment (#9 (comment)

I saw your comment now. Yes, as I already said in this thread, I updated the PR today, and it matches with the latest version now.

I also tested it with Arch Linux + KDE, and it definitely does work.

I have a question though, why did you make ir_win a separate file?

When I first made the PR, the layout was a patch to the already existing ir file in xkb, but now it's in a separate ir_win file. I don't see how separating it would help. Having the layout as a variant of the Persian keyboard layout (how it was previously) makes more sense, at least to me.

[sinadarvi]

@cs127 I think it was proposed with a PR. we have done it because of distinguishing the difference between ir and ir_win by separating them as their own independent files. if you still think previously was better, I would be happy to hear your opinion and reason.

[MasterKia]

If you add a license to this repo and just merge the one-liner change by @cs127 to the ir/ir_win file, then I think we could just ask the xkeyboard project for help and figure out whether it needs to be ir or ir_win, etc.

[cs127]

@cs127 I think it was proposed with a PR. we have done it because of distinguishing the difference between ir and ir_win by separating them as their own independent files. if you still think previously was better, I would be happy to hear your opinion and reason.

Other languages in xkb which have a Windows layout (Spanish, Italian, Finnish, and Ukranian just to name a few) do so by having the Windows layout as a winkeys variant in the same symbols file as the main layout (es, it, fi, and ua respectively). At least in my opinion, doing the same for ir makes a lot more sense, instead of having a separate ir_win file.

I think we could just ask the xkeyboard project for help and figure out whether it needs to be ir or ir_win, etc.

Sure, we can do that too.

[MasterKia]

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/xkeyboard-config/-/issues/367#note_1812873:

As @cs127 says in the linked issue, the legacy Persian Windows layout should be a winkeys variant in the ir file, and it should be just an include of the basic layout plus a few redefinitions for the relevant keys.
Since the author of that ir-win layout file no longer uses Linux, maybe @cs127 can make the merge request here? He appears to know how things work.

@cs127 What do you think?

[sinadarvi]

I have checked the issue. I have added a License and Merged the PR. but if you don't mind guys, please make the changes to the ir file and test it.

[cs127]

I'm currently making my own modified ir file to send as a PR to the xkb project. Let me know what you think.

[MasterKia]

Thank you.

[cs127]

The PR: !473.

Thank you guys for the help. It's only a matter of time until the Persian Windows layout becomes a part of xkb! :)

[MasterKia]

@cs127 It works!

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/xkeyboard-config/-/merge_requests/473:

Good job.

[sinadarvi]

it was a good experience. thank you, guys. I will close this issue.

[MasterKia]

🎉 It got merged! Finally we can use the Windows layout by default on our GNU/Linux systems.

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/xkeyboard-config/-/issues/367#note_e7813356297bd38961a59ada4fa67cc2f8146b08

All thanks to @cs127 for going through with the merge request.

[cs127]

🎉 thank you guys, it was fun!
But we will have to wait for the next release of xkeyboard-config (2.39), which will be released in about 3 months, according to their release schedule :)