Hello

adding the package "console-data" to your prebuilt ISO-images.

Are you talking about the live iso? Or installer iso? I can have a look, it seems it's a small package. Do you know if it's pre-installed on eg. Ubuntu ISOs or Debian ISOs?

Thanks

It is the installer ISO.

Howeer, I suggest, to put in both, thus it makes easy, to change keyboard layout with just a simple command, for all languages, not only German.

Checked again. I am using the kali-live-ISO. The splitting of installer and live is new and I always use the live-iso for building my own iso. But I always have to install console.data first, when working with it.
So, it would be nice, if this package could just be added in the next release. It should not be much work, to add an entry for this package.

Thank you for your help!

Best

Hans

Looking a bit closer. I can reproduce the issue, and indeed console-data needs to be installed. However I'm a bit surprised that the command loadkeys (provided by the package kbd) comes broken by default.

I filed a bug to try to clarify the matter: https://bugs.debian.org/1070679

I did more tests, found 2 things.

First, adding "console-data" to the installer is not that straightforward. The debian-installer is a special world of its own, you don't install .deb packages, you can only install .udeb packages. console-data doesn't exist as a .udeb.

Second, I found out that there is really no need for it. Let's say I boot the live ISO and select "Start Installer", then I choose "Language: whatever", then "Location: whatever" and then... "Keyboard: german". Then the debian installer configures the system, and after this point the keyboard layout is indeed German. I can hit Ctrl+Alt+F2 to open a console, and I can confirm that it's the German keyboard layout that is active.

So it seems to work and to be straightforward enough. Can you try on your side? Thanks!

Ok, no problem. The installer ist not much important. However, more important IMHO is the live-iso. Here it should be easy to add the package.

When I am building for my own, I added it in the package list (additional to all the other packages I want to have on my live-system).

But when i download the official live-iso (notthe installer one) it is missing. So it would be nice, if it could be added to this one.

Thanks in advance.

However, more important IMHO is the live-iso. Here it should be easy to add the package.

Yep but I still don't understand why this package is needed. When I boot a live ISO, it takes me to the XFCE desktop. From there, if I want to change the keyboard layout, I can open a terminal and type:

setxkbmap de

And it works.

On the other hand, the loadkeys approach doesn't work:

sudo apt install -y console-data
sudo loadkeys de

Running the commands above doesn't give any error, but it has no effect either, at least in my tests.

What am I missing?

Hmm, why is it so difficult to add a simple package into the list of packages to be installed? In my own builds it is added easily, but for few cases, I needed the released ISO (last time, because the latest kernel crashed).
Besides, what if i do not want to use XFCE but workíng on a console? Then loadkeys will do easiest and best job.

I did not tell, it is in a hurry, just do it in the next official release. Should be no problem. But if you do not want to add it, then say it directly. It will be accepted and you should close this report, saying: We do not want it. It is ok.

Just wanted the official ISO make more comfortable, thought I could help. If it does not help in your mind, it is ok,

@arnaudr I think the intention is to have a tool to change the keyboard in the tty consoles. I've tested it in Kali and loadkeys command fails without console-data package. Once installed the user is able to select the keyboard map from the tty terminal.
I think this is needed for users that opt to install no desktop

I'm not against adding it, I just want to understand the issue correctly, and make sure adding console-data is the right solution for the problem.

When I look at the package console-data, I see a package for which the last release (1.12) was in 2011. Since then, the package has been kept alive, but no new upstream release. When I check how many packages depend on it, I see only two: console-common which is a sibling of console-data, and kbd which explicitly favors another package named console-setup. So I have the impression that console-data is a package that is abandoned, or being phased out.

At the same time, it's the kind of thing that we get from Debian, that should work out of the box, it's a bit surprising if it doesn't. That's why I filed https://bugs.debian.org/1070679, in the hope that the maintainer of kbd (that provides loadkeys) can clarify the matter.

And that's why I ask all those questions. If I was familiar with the topic, I'd know what is the right fix. But I'm not, so before thinking about a fix, I need to understand the problem.

So I still wonder: how do you use the live ISO? You bypass the desktop environment ans use a tty console instead, is it what you do? I'm genuinely curious to understand the use-case, I didn't know users would do that, a bare TTY console is rather limited.

This is nice to hear! Well, I can only tell from my sight.

I am using kali-linux--lve mostly two things: One is suing it as a rescue system for any OS, the other main thing is using it for building my own live-build (my own live image is with German environment. It has packages included not in kali and
the packages I am using are more than the standard ISO is containing).

Just to explain, I am using mostly the console (switching with CTL + ALT + F1) into the console, then login as root.
After this, I get the wrong keyboard with English layout. I would now simply do "loadkeys de" (like I do it on Trinity Rescue Kit, for example) and can go on. As this is not working in kali-live,
I have to install console-data, then can change the keyboard.

Sadly I found no other such simple way for the console as setkbd, dpkg-reconfigure kbd and other hints did not work.

As I think, other non English speakers and non English-keyboard layout users are falling into the same issue, I opened this bugreport and offered an easy solution. IMO this would help others, too.

Does this explain a little bit? loadkeys IMHO is just the easiest way, to switch the keyboard layout. Just one single command and just for all languages usable.

If anything is still unclear, I will be happy to help.

Just forgot: If you will add console-data, please add it into the 32-bit (i386), too. This is the one, I am using at my old EEEPC, which is still running well.

Fixed with https://gitlab.com/kalilinux/build-scripts/live-build-config/-/commit/cdca823618618095b12cd269b18f1c43c216846b. This commit applies to the live image, all architectures (amd64, i386 and arm64). It will be effective in the next round of weekly image, and in the upcoming release 2024.2.

Thanks for taking the time to follow up until the end. I still hope to get get feedback from https://bugs.debian.org/1070679 at some point, this kind of issue should really be fixed in Debian.