Bug 509637

Summary: Improve XKB keymap error management
Product: [Plasma] kwin Reporter: fabrice salvaire <fabrice.salvaire>
Component: inputAssignee: KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: wishlist CC: duha.bugs, nate
Priority: NOR Keywords: usability
Version First Reported In: 6.4.4   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Other   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description fabrice salvaire 2025-09-18 13:35:18 UTC 
Actually, the Wayland experience for a custom keymap is worse than for the Xserver.

If the corresponding symbol file in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols cannot be read (permission) then Plasma crashes so badly that we have to reboot the computer using a kernel Ctrl+Alt+Del.

After a major upgrade, it is common that a xkb update breaks the custom keymap.  In this case, Kwin only reports errors in /var/log/message, doesn't show any UI error message and uses the next keymap as a fallback.

KDE settings experience is also bad :
- It resets the keymap list when we disable it
- We have to change the keymap list order to make fix and try until it works as expected
- It reports any errors

On Linux, I would expect a command line and UI that reports a comprehensive error and a fallback to an internal US keymap or a clean session abort.