This section discusses how to configure the systemd-vconsole-setup system service, which configures the virtual console font and console keymap.
The systemd-vconsole-setup service
reads the /etc/vconsole.conf file for
configuration information. Decide which keymap and screen font will
be used. Various language-specific HOWTOs can also help with this,
see https://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/other-lang.html.
Examine the output of localectl
list-keymaps for a list of valid console keymaps.
Look in the /usr/share/consolefonts
directory for valid screen fonts.
The /etc/vconsole.conf file should
contain lines of the form: VARIABLE=value.
The following variables are recognized:
- KEYMAP
-
This variable specifies the key mapping table for the keyboard. If unset, it defaults to
us. - KEYMAP_TOGGLE
-
This variable can be used to configure a second toggle keymap and is unset by default.
- FONT
-
This variable specifies the font used by the virtual console.
- FONT_MAP
-
This variable specifies the console map to be used.
- FONT_UNIMAP
-
This variable specifies the Unicode font map.
We'll use C.UTF-8 as the locale for
interactive sessions in the Linux console in Section 9.7,
“Configuring the System Locale.” The console fonts shipped by the
Kbd package containing the glyphs
for all characters from the program messages in the C.UTF-8 locale are LatArCyrHeb*.psfu.gz, LatGrkCyr*.psfu.gz, Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz, and pancyrillic.f16.psfu.gz in /usr/share/consolefonts (the other shipped console
fonts lack glyphs of some characters like the Unicode left/right
quotation marks and the Unicode English dash). So set one of them,
for example Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz as
the default console font:
echo FONT=Lat2-Terminus16 > /etc/vconsole.conf
An example for a German keyboard and console is given below:
cat > /etc/vconsole.conf << "EOF"
KEYMAP=de-latin1
FONT=Lat2-Terminus16
EOF
You can change KEYMAP value at runtime by using the localectl utility:
localectl set-keymap MAP
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Note
Please note that the localectl command doesn't work in the chroot environment. It can only be used after the LFS system is booted with systemd.
You can also use localectl utility with the corresponding parameters to change X11 keyboard layout, model, variant and options:
localectl set-x11-keymap LAYOUT [MODEL] [VARIANT] [OPTIONS]
To list possible values for localectl set-x11-keymap parameters, run localectl with parameters listed below:
- list-x11-keymap-models
-
Shows known X11 keyboard mapping models.
- list-x11-keymap-layouts
-
Shows known X11 keyboard mapping layouts.
- list-x11-keymap-variants
-
Shows known X11 keyboard mapping variants.
- list-x11-keymap-options
-
Shows known X11 keyboard mapping options.
Note
Using any of the parameters listed above requires the XKeyboard-Config package from BLFS.