the Caps switch and Rctrl switch for choosing level 5 are not selectable
In symbols/level5
the option caps_switch
has existed for five years, and the option rctrl_switch
even for seventeen years, but these two options are not listed in rules/base.xml
nor in rules/0042-o_s.part
. This means that the user cannot select these switches in their desktop keyboard configurator, nor with setxkbmap -option ...
. The only way to select these options is to do something like setxkbmap "de(e1)+level5(rctrl_switch)" -option lv3:ralt_switch
. This is not user-friendly.
Also, in rules/base.xml
the option lv5:menu_switch
is listed ("Menu chooses 5th level"), but this option does not exist in symbols/level5
. The option was introduced by commit a83fd509 from a year and a half ago, and then removed again a year ago in commit 99a9ae20, but leaving the entry in rules/base.xml
behind.
I think the lv5:menu_switch
should be added back, because (just like lv5:rctrl_switch
) it can be used quite conveniently together with the almost-standard lv3:ralt_switch
to reach the seventh level. True, there are very few layouts that have a seventh level (or even a fifth), but still: if AltGr
is used to access the third and fourth levels, it feels quite "natural" that a neighbouring key can be used to access the seventh and eighth levels.