yes. we need it back. i am most comfortable with xkb than ibus-m17n and fcitx. as i am an inscript lover i don't need external packages to type in my  language. also ibus setting need more time to work in all places. so i request to revert the commit which moved Indian Keyboard layouts to base.extras

Hi,
It all started with https://pagure.io/i18n/issue/36

"<mfabian> anish_: yes, apparently the Indian keyboard layouts do not work as well as the Indian input engines do."

Which led to bug 96418
"Apparently the Indian keyboard layouts in xkeyboard-config are not very useful because of limitations in xkb. In xkb, it is not possible to output several characters when one key is pressed but that seems sometimes necessary.

For Indian languages, the input methods supplied by ibus-m17n appear to be more useful, having the xkb keyboard layouts show up as well in the gnome-control centre confuse the user because of too many useless choices."

Which led to patch and this commit
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/commit/?id=913af7dafaab8ff4a9ae0d1e4c4097caf4a8022d

But this was all based on the false notion that Indian keyboard layouts do not work as well as the Indian input engines do. Indian keyboard layouts include Inscript which is that standard keyboard layout for Indian languages and can be used to type any character. Also, the input engines that is mentioned above are not shipped with Debian (and probably not for Ubuntu either).

"<mfabian> evdev.extras.xml is blacklisted already, if we move the Indian
keyboard layouts there, they are practically gone for "normal" users."

"Normal" users go crazy when they install Ubuntu for the first time and see that there is no Indian language in it. 

I know at least one state in India which teaches students at school level touch typing in Inscript layout. Personally I use inscript layout. And I can show you several others who do the same.

For the sake of demonstration I write the following in Malayalam entirely using Inscript layout from xkb:

The entire alphabet
അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ ഋ എ ഏ ഐ ഒ ഓ ഔ അം അഃ
കഖഗഘങ ചഛജഝഞ ടഠഡഢണ തഥദധന പഫബഭമ
യരലവശഷസഹളഴറ

Some complex characters:
ക്ഷ ത്ര ജ്ഞ

A complex sentence:
അമ്പത്തൊന്നക്ഷരാളീകലിതതനുലതേ! വേദമാകുന്ന ശാഖിക്കൊമ്പത്തന്‍പോടു പൂക്കും കുസുമതതിയിലേന്തുന്ന പൂന്തേന്‍കുഴമ്പേ!

Also, while reading through the Rules at https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig/Rules/ I find no description of "exotic" layouts that merit that all the Indic scripts be moved to extras.

I very well know that being in extras doesn't make these keyboard layouts unavailable. But, it is unfortunate to move innocent layouts to extras.

Shall submit a patch reverting the move.

There are many things wrong with this

1) The ibus and fcitx input systems are not installed by default on all the distro so for those users due to this change, selecting indian input won't become an option unless they know about ibus and fcitx.
It also requires extra configuration to get it up and running.

2)As far as I  know from what I read in the initial bug report that is responsible for this change -> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96418 . The input were moved because gnome control center list was looking too confusing and cluttered. Well then what about others who don't use gnome control center? Also If gnome control center looks confusing then it is a bug for gnome devs to solve isn't it, how does it matter for xkb or freedesktop?

3) If you guys are removing this then do you guys provide a seamless way or alternative for the users using these input method, (which require minimal tweak in settings and no new software installation). Not all of us have ibus or fcitx installed have you thought beyond anaconda and gnome control center?

I humbly request the developers to reverse this commit -> https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/commit/?id=913af7dafaab8ff4a9ae0d1e4c4097caf4a8022d

Created attachment 132117 [details] [review]
Patch to whitelist indian keyboards by taking them back from extras

Please note bug #96418

Merging this patch might cause regressions in fedora and/or redhat.

Could Mike pls comment on that matter? If he is agrees (I cannot see why not) - I will be happy to commit.

Thanks Praveen for reporting this issue. 

I agree:
* Consensus not taken from respective language communities for this change.
* Though XKB has limitations of mapping multiple characters on single key and its not possible to implement Inscript/Inscript2 standard fully - still due to ease of using XKB (i.e. no need to install ibus/fcitx) it is good to have.
* From this bug it is clear many users still uses XKB Indic layouts. 
* Though we have big list of XKB layouts searching with language name is quick.


+1 for reverting.

I am also for reverting then, this came originally from of my Indian colleagues who wanted these layouts not listed because they considered them useless as they don’t implement the standard perfectly. 

Personally I am not bothered at all by seeing a huge list of layouts in 
the Gnome setup GUI, the search feature works well enough for me to find the layouts I need.

Great! So everyone is on the same page. Applying.

Done! Thanks to everyone!

(In reply to Mike FABIAN from comment #7)
> I am also for reverting then, this came originally from of my Indian
> colleagues who wanted these layouts not listed because they considered them
> useless as they don’t implement the standard perfectly. 
> 
> Personally I am not bothered at all by seeing a huge list of layouts in 
> the Gnome setup GUI, the search feature works well enough for me to find the
> layouts I need.

Well just created an account to say THANKS, I was having this for last few weeks after I installed Fedora-26 KDE and tried Manjaro, Solved it myself the wrong way, copied the xkb folder in my working Fedora-24 system to /usr/share/x11 in both and rebooted . I knew someone has created a problem. XKB layouts for Malayalam always worked, I'am a lawyer in the Indian state of Keral and types and prints all my notices and plaints and docs in openoffice/libreoffice on KDE, I had to of course put my own characters in fonts like meera and use my own hacked fonts, The problem is never with XKB or anything it is the way fonts for Malayalam was created by people who believe they are the lords of FOSS here. When India officially has Arabic Numerals for every transactions these guys changed every numeral to old language numerals which 99% of Indians wont even recognise and they are not even taught in schools.  As for Gnome, well Sorry in advance, But I think Linux on desktop will never be a reality untill Gnome is thrown out fully.At least in this part of the world. Thanks again and Hopes the layouts work next update ....