[SOLVED] Deleted Compose file at /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/

gabriel.ipc · 11-08-2021, 05:05 PM

Hey!

So, i am quite new to Linux, so I am sorry in advance for my newbie's mess.

Language is English, the keyboard layout is US International with dead keys

I installed Parrot OS (I just kind of liked the logo and name).
There was a problem though, I need to type many Latin characters and every time I typed '+c I kept getting "ć" instead of "ç".

So I started to look around the internet and got into the Compose file at /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8

Stupidly, I started to just change things there, eventually it was fairly messed up.

I though "well, no worries, I should just delete the file, the system is probably going to realise it is missing and create it fresh with the default key sequence"

Then:

$ sudo rm -rf Compose
$ reboot

Well.... I was wrong.

Now I cannot type accented letters at all, mostly... weirdly, for some reason far beyond me, Firefox actually keeps recognizing dead keys and accentuating letters (any reason why?)

I went digging in the internet, and tried:

$ sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-dev
$ reboot

No luck.

I also found this with the entire compose key sequences.

I thought, "Ha, well well, problem solved, huh? I just need to create a file, copy all that sequence and paste it on the file... clever me

"

$ nano Compose (in the /en_US.UTF-8 folder)
ctr+shit+v
saved, exited
$ reboot

No luck there again.

I am really sorry for all this newbie messing around. I though I would just reinstall the entire distro and be done with it, but then again, I was like... aaah, I reeealy want to solve this though.

Any good souls out there know a way?

Thank you all very very much in advance!
Cheers

computersavvy · 11-08-2021, 06:37 PM

On Fedora that file is provided by libX11-common. If parrot has a similar package then you were close and a reinstall of the proper libX11 package should recover the correct file for you.

Maybe try a

Code:

sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-common

or similar to recover.

In the future, before changing a system provided file you should always make a backup copy before you alter the file. If something goes wrong you then have a backup that can be restored.

gabriel.ipc · 11-08-2021, 08:48 PM

Thank you very much computersavvy!

Your answer made it clear I had to reinstall libx package.

I tried out libx11-common, but it returned: "E: Unable to locate package libx11-common". It kind of made sense, considering parrot os comes from Debian.

But with your guidance I went out looking for parrot os packages. Found all their names here.
I had already tried:

Code:

sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-dev

But tried it again nway, along with:

Code:

sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-6
sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-data
sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-doc
sudo apt --reinstall install libx11-xcb-dev

I just picked everything without perl in the name, the reason for that is truly odd (I remembered when I played Ragnarok Online I eventually started to use a bot to play it while I slept ##I know, shame on me## and the bot used a perl software for displaying the visual game... Knowing the X system has something to do with visuals, window, things we see in the screen, I kind of linked the two things and I concluded perl packages might just not do anything for my problem at hand, that is why I left them out).

After that, and just to be sure, I did:

Code:

sudo apt upgrade

Then

Code:

reboot

The Compose file was back!!!! Hip Hip Hurrayy!

I just had to remove the keyboard layout and add it back again in the system settings, ta-da! Latin accented letters are back! áéíóú!

Okay, now I still have got to figure out how to '+c = ç instead of the current "ć", but that is another topic.

I honestly don't know which package actually brought the file back. I am itching to delete it again and reinstall one-by-one to find out. But only after making a backup copy just like you recommended, of course. Learning to backup the hardway is a good lesson.

Thank you very much again for directing me on the right path!

shruggy · 11-09-2021, 03:34 AM

For the future, to see what package a file on your system belongs to, run

Code:

dpkg -S /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8

gabriel.ipc · 11-09-2021, 12:44 PM

Thanks a lot shruggy!

I did that and found out the package that restores Compose file is libx11-data. Quite clever!

Thank you all again!

gabriel.ipc · 11-09-2021, 04:10 PM

Although it was not the topic of the post, this problem only began because I was trying to remap the keyboard layout so when typing '+c I could get ç instead of ć.

If by any chance someone arrives here looking for that problem, I found the solution on the internet, in this forum, here. Basically:

Code:

$ sudo gedit ~/.XCompose

This will create an empty file in the home directory called XCompose and open it for you to edit.

In the file copy and paste:

Code:

include "%S/en_US.UTF-8/Compose"
<dead_acute> <C> : "Ç"
<dead_acute> <c> : "ç"

Save it, then:

Code:

$ reboot

After that whenever one types '+c he'll get "ç"!

I might be wrong, but I think this XCompose file makes preferential key sequences for the keyboard. I'm guessing that first line is basically telling the file to use all the sequences in the file /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose except when conflicted by the following key sequences bellow it.

Well well, took some time, but it is now working like magic!