libretro / libretro/RetroArch

Cannot change keyboard layout/language

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distro: retropie platform: rpi4
Dominant language
C
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Description

Retroarch uses a US English keyboard layout as default (tested by setting keys in the GUI or in cores with direct keyboard input), independently of what layout is set in the OS (at least in linux/Raspbian).

It does not seem there is an option in the GUI to set the keyboard layout, but there is an option in the retroarch.cfg file that says:

# Keyboard layout for input driver if applicable (udev/evdev for now).
# Syntax is either just layout (e.g. "no"), or a layout and variant separated with colon ("no:nodeadkeys").
# input_keyboard_layout =

However, no matter what keyboard code is set (for example 'es' for Spanish), it does not seem to have an effect: the US keyboard layout is always used.

Tested on:
Retroarch 1.10
Retropie 4.8 on a Raspberry pi 4

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with retroarch.cfg and trace how input_keyboard_layout is consumed by the udev/evdev input driver. Reproduce the Spanish layout case on Linux/Raspbian, then verify that changing the setting affects keyboard input instead of always using US English.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
52/100

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