cc: @jtojnar @worldofpeace since you reviewed/merged last time. Thanks ❤️ ! (er, a bit pre-emptive, I could've waited until my nixpkgs-review finished...)

In the NEWS, the following items caught my attention:

• “Add libxkbregistry as configure-time optional library.” Is this included in the package? Can it be built separately?
• “Add /etc/xkb as extra lookup path for system data files.” Does this load from /etc or ${libxkbcommon}/etc? In the latter case, a patch like https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/9206c0d115c2e13767e7b770b903eda9856f78ee/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/add-option-for-installation-sysconfdir.patch might be necessary to have it working properly.
• “Add an xkbcli command-line utility.” Does the utility work without changes or is some wrapping required?
• “The tests no longer rely on bash, only Python” Is it possible that this fixes the tests?

Please rebase this against the staging branch due to the number of rebuilds.

/rebase-staging

@jtojnar my ten cents:

• “Add libxkbregistry as configure-time optional library.” Is this included in the package? Can it be built separately?

Well, I think it is a case for multiple outputs.

• “Add /etc/xkb as extra lookup path for system data files.” Does this load from /etc or ${libxkbcommon}/etc? In the latter case, a patch like https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/9206c0d115c2e13767e7b770b903eda9856f78ee/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/add-option-for-installation-sysconfdir.patch might be necessary to have it working properly.

I think it can be both. The upstream's rationale is this:

• Add /etc/xkb as extra lookup path for system data files.

  This completes the usual triplet of configuration locations available for
  most processes:

  • vendor-provided data files in /usr/share/X11/xkb
  • system-specific data files in /etc/xkb
  • user-specific data files in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xkb

  The default lookup order user, system, vendor, just like everything else
  that uses these conventions.

• “Add an xkbcli command-line utility.” Does the utility work without changes or is some wrapping required?

Wait for the worst. Certainly it will seek configurations in the three paths above.

Please don't let this PR stop someone else from picking it up. I'd drafted it thinking it would just be a version bump. It could be a while before I have time to really focus on this, sorry.

Please don't let this PR stop someone else from picking it up. I'd drafted it thinking it would just be a version bump. It could be a while before I have time to really focus on this, sorry.

Ok, thanks for the update, I'll try to take care of the rest.

“Add libxkbregistry as configure-time optional library.” Is this included in the package? Can it be built separately?

It is new and optional so I'd disable it for now. Installing it into a separate output seems like a nice idea but I think we should add a Meson option to install it into a different prefix first (after this PR).

“The tests no longer rely on bash, only Python” Is it possible that this fixes the tests?

Still fail, I'll look into that later. The're enabled now.

TODO (I'll try to test this on my old desktop in a few hours):

• “Add /etc/xkb as extra lookup path for system data files.” Does this load from /etc or ${libxkbcommon}/etc? In the latter case, a patch like https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/9206c0d115c2e13767e7b770b903eda9856f78ee/pkgs/os-specific/linux/firmware/fwupd/add-option-for-installation-sysconfdir.patch might be necessary to have it working properly.

Update: Fixed now (was ${libxkbcommon}/etc).

• “Add an xkbcli command-line utility.” Does the utility work without changes or is some wrapping required?

Update: Yes, it works (though I didn't test all subcommands).

I tested this with sway, alacritty, and xkbcli. Everything was working fine and I didn't notice any issues/regressions.
I'll squash and rebase it and then it should be good to go :)
(Feel free to merge and if you have any objections please raise them now as I'll likely merge it in a few hours.)

“Add libxkbregistry as configure-time optional library.” Is this included in the package? Can it be built separately?

I've had some time to look into this and opened #110773 with a brief reasoning for my approach. Feel free to add your thoughts/opinions or other feedback.