Ignores advanced MacOS keyboard configurations

[SirVer]

I am using Neo 2 keyboard layout which requires Karabiner.

alacritty flat out ignores the remappings done in Mac OS settings and through karabiner that all other app (except for Chrome) accept - this makes Mod3 keys like (/}[/-) inaccessible in Neo and this unusable.

[jwilm]

There's an issue supporting alternative keyboard layouts with Glutin's input system, but as you're using Karabiner, I'm surprised you're affected (karabiner remaps at a very low level). Supporting alternativel layouts is important for the project. I'm personally a Colemak user, and Alarcitty hopes to be usable for international users as well.

[alexanderjeurissen]

I'm having the same issue, the reason this is the case is because it seems that the library that Alacritty is using uses hard coded key codes instead of keychars. Meaning that the exact position of the key that is pressed on the keyboard is leading not the actual keyboard layout that is specified on the OS level.

As a result for dvorak users they have to use cmd+k instead of cmd+v for pasting.

[JakobGM]

For reference, I had to make the following changes for the Dvorak keyboard layout on MacOS:

key_bindings:
  - { key: Stop,     mods: Command, action: Paste                        }
  - { key: I,        mods: Command, action: Copy                         }
  - { key: X,        mods: Command, action: Quit                         }
  - { key: Comma,    mods: Command, action: Quit                         }

[francesca64]

Could you try out this branch? https://github.com/francesca64/alacritty/tree/macos-kb

(Relevant winit PR: rust-windowing/winit#518)

[SirVer]

@francesca64 Thanks for working on this!

The linked branch improves upon the situation, but does not fix it. For Neo2, Mod4 keys work, but Mod3 are still broken. See keyboard map on https://www.neo-layout.org/. So alacritty remains unusable in the current form.

Edit: I mistakenly compiled and tested master instead of the linked branch. I am currently recompiling the correct branch, but need to run for a while. Will report back after testing.

Edit 2: I now tested the correct branch at 91bf50d. As far as I can tell it behaves exactly like master for Neo2, i.e. no improvements. 😢 🐼

[sztomi]

I see this is an old issue but I'm facing the same problem. I'm not using any special software, only an alternative layout I set through the system settings. I'm unable to enter some characters like ~.

[jens1205]

I just stumbled upon this issue. I use an external german iso keyboard on my Mac, and have installed a custom keylayout created with ukelele which works just fine with e.g. iTerm2 and all other apps.
The basic keymappings and using shift do work - but everything with CTRL is broken - so CTRL-D is only recognized as a plain d.

[jandamm]

I have a similar issue using just the macOS Colemak layout.
Only keys which are on the same position as on US do work.
So Ctrl-w works but Ctrl-d does not.
I cannot exactly tell since when this issue is present since I mostly use an external keyboard where it works (since it uses hardware Colemak).
But I know for sure that it worked fine earlier this year.

[9j]

Same issue with worker layout. The Ctrl key is not recognized normally.
I expect all custom keyboard layouts to have the same issue.