neolight: init at 1.4.0 by drafolin · Pull Request #434361 · NixOS/nixpkgs

drafolin · 2025-08-17T02:10:37Z

Packaged neolight for nixos, depending on xkeyboard_config

Things done

Add a 👍 reaction to pull requests you find important.

drafolin · 2025-08-17T02:11:10Z

there is MUCH LIKELY a better solution; but this one at the very least works :D

am open to any suggestion towards improvement

Sigmanificient · 2025-08-17T02:21:05Z

pkgs/by-name/ne/neolight/package.nix

Sorry but... what does this do? 😅

the two cp lines copy the symbols and types from neolight;

NeoLight adds two layers on top of your regular keyboard, therefore this is necessary, although a bit of a hack. Really here, I'm just adapting the install.sh script from mihi314/neolight.

The question is about the ed command

sorry! thought the three lines were selected.

the ed command is the one i saw was used in the implementation of services.xserver.xkb.extraLayouts. It allows to edit a file in-place.

As for the file itself, it's used to be displayed, for example, in gnome tweaks, as a checkbox you can simply tick to enable neolight.

I mean what does it do to that file, does it creates it? Does it append to it?

it appends to it, right after the first match of <layoutList>
/<layoutList>/ looks for the match
a starts the append operation
[...] is the content
. finishes the append operation
w writes to the file

pkgs/by-name/ne/neolight/package.nix

acid-bong

Moin and welcome to Nixpkgs. Here's a couple general notes to consider

nixos/modules/services/x11/neolight.nix

nilathedragon · 2025-08-17T13:30:21Z

`nixpkgs-review` result

Generated using nixpkgs-review.

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 434361
Commit: 79fe800f3462d49543b0dd488a8d8245ee9aaea3

`x86_64-linux`

⏩ 2 packages blacklisted:

nixos-install-tools
tests.nixos-functions.nixos-test

✅ 1 package built:

neolight

acid-bong · 2025-08-17T14:44:26Z

`nixpkgs-review` result

Generated using nixpkgs-review-gha

Command: nixpkgs-review pr 434361

Logs: https://github.com/acid-bong/nixpkgs-review-gha/actions/runs/17022303559

`x86_64-linux`

⏩ 2 packages blacklisted:

nixos-install-tools
tests.nixos-functions.nixos-test

✅ 1 package built:

neolight

`aarch64-linux`

⏩ 2 packages blacklisted:

nixos-install-tools
tests.nixos-functions.nixos-test

✅ 1 package built:

neolight

rnhmjoj · 2025-08-19T18:56:57Z

Can you extend xkb.extraLayouts (i.e. xkeyboardconfig_custom) and use that, instead of implementing this ad-hoc for neolight?

drafolin · 2025-08-19T20:52:35Z

Can you extend xkb.extraLayouts (i.e. xkeyboardconfig_custom) and use that, instead of implementing this ad-hoc for neolight?

probably; would require more time than i currently have available tho

drafolin · 2025-08-20T13:27:16Z

removed the maintainer commit since it got merged with #435232

nixos/modules/services/x11/neolight.nix

Modification to the XKB_CONFIG_ROOT environment variable required for functionnality of the package

rnhmjoj

Apparently it's not passing the xkb-validate test:

xkb-validated> 
xkb-validated> The value `neolight' for keyboard layout is invalid.
xkb-validated> 
xkb-validated> Please check the definition in `services.xserver.xkb.layout'.
xkb-validated> 
xkb-validated> Detailed XKB compiler errors:
xkb-validated> 
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338] Couldn't find file "symbols/neolight" in include paths
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338] 1 include paths searched:
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338]    /nix/store/24j9amj85jw3mwb7551nx3b4bnxcl81z-xkeyboard-config-2.45/etc/X11/xkb
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338] 3 include paths could not be added:
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338]    /homeless-shelter/.config/xkb
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338]    /homeless-shelter/.xkb
xkb-validated>     [XKB-338]    /etc/xkb
xkb-validated>     [XKB-769] Abandoning symbols file "(unnamed map)"
xkb-validated>     Failed to compile xkb_symbols
xkb-validated>     [XKB-822] Failed to compile keymap
xkb-validated>

I tested with:

services.xserver.xkb.layout = "neolight";
services.xserver.xkb.neolight.enable = true;

and

services.xserver.xkb.layout = "us";
services.xserver.xkb.options = "neolight";
services.xserver.xkb.neolight.enable = true;

Neither is working.

The path /nix/store/24j9amj85jw3mwb7551nx3b4bnxcl81z-xkeyboard-config-2.45 seems to be the original xkeyboardconfig package, the custom package is not being installed correctly.

rnhmjoj · 2025-08-22T18:24:39Z

nixos/modules/services/x11/neolight.nix

+{
+  options.services.xserver.xkb.neolight = {
+    package = lib.mkPackageOption pkgs "neolight" { };
+    enable = lib.mkEnableOption "neolight xkb layout, extra keyboard layers for programming based on Neo";


We really need to provide more information on what this actually does and how to use the layout, either here or in the NixOS manual.

Also, you should add a test case to nixosTests.keymap (see nixos/tests/keymap.nix). There is one already for neo and one for extraLayout that you can adapt.

rnhmjoj · 2025-08-22T18:25:56Z

pkgs/by-name/ne/neolight/package.nix

+    ${ed}/bin/ed -v rules/evdev.xml <<EOF
+    /<layoutList>/
+    a
+    <!-- BEGIN neolight -->


I think you can remove these comments, in the upstream script they were used to splice out the layout in case you uninstall it, but in NixOS this is unnecessary.

rnhmjoj · 2025-08-22T18:26:14Z

pkgs/by-name/ne/neolight/package.nix

+
+    ${ed}/bin/ed -v rules/evdev <<EOF
+    a
+    // BEGIN NEOLIGHT


drafolin · 2025-08-25T14:17:50Z

Apparently it's not passing the xkb-validate test:
...

Not sure what you tried running, I gave a look at the xkbvalidate cli but can't get to this output.

Have you tried with "neolight:neolight" option? It's called like this in this version (to better match the upstream package)

rnhmjoj · 2025-08-28T09:19:35Z

Not sure what you tried running, I gave a look at the xkbvalidate cli but can't get to this output.

It's a system.check (a built-time test) that runs if you enable the X server, see nixos/modules/services/x11/xserver.nix.

Have you tried with "neolight:neolight" option? It's called like this in this version (to better match the upstream package)

Yes, I tested with both the layout and the option applied on top of another layout.

Sigmanificient reviewed Aug 17, 2025

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drafolin force-pushed the neolight/init branch from 057bd8e to 79fe800 Compare August 17, 2025 02:26

acid-bong reviewed Aug 17, 2025

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drafolin force-pushed the neolight/init branch from 79fe800 to 6ad05f4 Compare August 17, 2025 13:54

nixpkgs-ci bot added the 8.has: maintainer-list (update) This PR changes `maintainers/maintainer-list.nix` label Aug 17, 2025

drafolin requested a review from Sigmanificient August 19, 2025 20:51

drafolin force-pushed the neolight/init branch from 30cdd14 to c712e0b Compare August 20, 2025 13:25

nixpkgs-ci bot removed 12.first-time contribution This PR is the author's first one; please be gentle! 8.has: maintainer-list (update) This PR changes `maintainers/maintainer-list.nix` labels Aug 20, 2025

rnhmjoj reviewed Aug 20, 2025

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nixos/modules/services/x11/neolight.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

drafolin added 2 commits August 21, 2025 11:06

neolight: init at 1.4.0

a3eddc5

nixos/neolight: init neolight

f414de7

Modification to the XKB_CONFIG_ROOT environment variable required for functionnality of the package

drafolin force-pushed the neolight/init branch from c712e0b to f414de7 Compare August 21, 2025 09:06

drafolin requested a review from rnhmjoj August 21, 2025 18:58

rnhmjoj requested changes Aug 22, 2025

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h7x4 added the 8.has: module (new) This PR adds a module in `nixos/` label Sep 10, 2025

drafolin closed this Feb 2, 2026

drafolin deleted the neolight/init branch March 4, 2026 09:17

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Sigmanificient Aug 17, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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nilathedragon commented Aug 17, 2025

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acid-bong commented Aug 17, 2025

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rnhmjoj commented Aug 19, 2025

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drafolin commented Aug 25, 2025

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