River xkb bindings
This protocol allows the river-window-management-v1 window manager to define key bindings in terms of xkbcommon keysyms and other configurable properties.
The key words "must", "must not", "required", "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "recommended", "may", and "optional" in this document are to be interpreted as described in IETF RFC 2119.
river_xkb_bindings_v1
This global interface should only be advertised to the client if the river_window_manager_v1 global is also advertised.
destroy()
This request indicates that the client will no longer use the river_xkb_bindings_v1 object.
get_xkb_binding(seat: object<river_seat_v1>, id: new_id<river_xkb_binding_v1>, keysym: uint, modifiers: uint<river_seat_v1.modifiers>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| seat | object<river_seat_v1> | |
| id | new_id<river_xkb_binding_v1> | |
| keysym | uint | an xkbcommon keysym |
| modifiers | uint<river_seat_v1.modifiers> |
Define a key binding for the given seat in terms of an xkbcommon keysym and other configurable properties.
The new key binding is not enabled until initial configuration is completed and the enable request is made during a manage sequence.
get_seat(id: new_id<river_xkb_bindings_seat_v1>, seat: object<river_seat_v1>)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | new_id<river_xkb_bindings_seat_v1> | |
| seat | object<river_seat_v1> |
Create an object to manage seat-specific xkb bindings state.
It is a protocol error to make this request more than once for a given river_seat_v1 object.
error { object_already_created }
Argument | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| object_already_createdsince 2 | 0 |
river_xkb_binding_v1
This object allows the window manager to configure a xkbcommon key binding and receive events when the key binding is triggered.
The new key binding is not enabled until the enable request is made during a manage sequence.
Normally, all key events are sent to the surface with keyboard focus by the compositor. Key events that trigger a key binding are not sent to the surface with keyboard focus.
If multiple key bindings would be triggered by a single physical key event on the compositor side, it is compositor policy which key binding(s) will receive press/release events or if all of the matched key bindings receive press/release events.
Key bindings might be matched by the same physical key event due to shared keysym and modifiers. The layout override feature may also cause the same physical key event to trigger two key bindings with different keysyms and different layout overrides configured.
destroy()
This request indicates that the client will no longer use the xkb key binding object and that it may be safely destroyed.
set_layout_override(layout: uint)
Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| layout | uint | 0-indexed xkbcommon layout |
Specify an xkb layout that should be used to translate key events for the purpose of triggering this key binding irrespective of the currently active xkb layout.
The layout argument is a 0-indexed xkbcommon layout number for the keyboard that generated the key event.
If this request is never made, the currently active xkb layout of the keyboard that generated the key event will be used.
This request modifies window management state and may only be made as part of a manage sequence, see the river_window_manager_v1 description.
enable()
This request should be made after all initial configuration has been completed and the window manager wishes the key binding to be able to be triggered.
This request modifies window management state and may only be made as part of a manage sequence, see the river_window_manager_v1 description.
disable()
This request may be used to temporarily disable the key binding. It may be later re-enabled with the enable request.
This request modifies window management state and may only be made as part of a manage sequence, see the river_window_manager_v1 description.
pressed()
This event indicates that the physical key triggering the binding has been pressed.
This event will be followed by a manage_start event after all other new state has been sent by the server.
The compositor should wait for the manage sequence to complete before processing further input events. This allows the window manager client to, for example, modify key bindings and keyboard focus without racing against future input events. The window manager should of course respond as soon as possible as the capacity of the compositor to buffer incoming input events is finite.
released()
This event indicates that the physical key triggering the binding has been released.
Releasing the modifiers for the binding without releasing the "main" physical key that produces the bound keysym does not trigger the release event. This event is sent when the "main" key is released, even if the modifiers have changed since the pressed event.
This event will be followed by a manage_start event after all other new state has been sent by the server.
The compositor should wait for the manage sequence to complete before processing further input events. This allows the window manager client to, for example, modify key bindings and keyboard focus without racing against future input events. The window manager should of course respond as soon as possible as the capacity of the compositor to buffer incoming input events is finite.
stop_repeat()
This event indicates that repeating should be stopped for the binding if the window manager has been repeating some action since the pressed event.
This event is generally sent when some other (possible unbound) key is pressed after the pressed event is sent and before the released event is sent for this binding.
This event will be followed by a manage_start event after all other new state has been sent by the server.
river_xkb_bindings_seat_v1
This object manages xkb bindings state associated with a specific seat.
destroy()
This request indicates that the client will no longer use the object and that it may be safely destroyed.
ensure_next_key_eaten()
Ensure that the next non-modifier key press and corresponding release events for this seat are not sent to the currently focused surface.
If the next non-modifier key press triggers a binding, the pressed/released events are sent to the river_xkb_binding_v1 object as usual.
If the next non-modifier key press does not trigger a binding, the ate_unbound_key event is sent instead.
Rationale: the window manager may wish to implement "chorded" keybindings where triggering a binding activates a "submap" with a different set of keybindings. Without a way to eat the next key press event, there is no good way for the window manager to know that it should error out and exit the submap when a key not bound in the submap is pressed.
This request modifies window management state and may only be made as part of a manage sequence, see the river_window_manager_v1 description.
cancel_ensure_next_key_eaten()
This requests cancels the effect of the latest ensure_next_key_eaten request if no key has been eaten due to the request yet. This request has no effect if a key has already been eaten or no ensure_next_key_eaten was made.
Rationale: the window manager may wish cancel an uncompleted "chorded" keybinding after a timeout of a few seconds. Note that since this timeout use-case requires the window manager to trigger a manage sequence with the river_window_manager_v1.manage_dirty request it is possible that the ate_unbound_key key event may be sent before the window manager has a chance to make the cancel_ensure_next_key_eaten request.
This request modifies window management state and may only be made as part of a manage sequence, see the river_window_manager_v1 description.
ate_unbound_key()
An unbound key press event was eaten due to the ensure_next_key_eaten request.
This event will be followed by a manage_start event after all other new state has been sent by the server.
Compositor Support
Copyright
SPDX-FileCopyrightText: © 2025 Isaac Freund SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
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