9.6. Configuring the Linux Console

#### Linux From Scratch - Version 12.1-systemd

### Chapter 9. System Configuration

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# 9.6. Configuring the Linux Console

This section discusses how to configure the systemd-vconsole-setup system service, which configures the virtual console font and console keymap.

The systemd-vconsole-setup service reads the `/etc/vconsole.conf` file for configuration information. Decide which keymap and screen font will be used. Various language-specific HOWTOs can also help with this, see https://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/other-lang.html. Examine the output of localectl list-keymaps for a list of valid console keymaps. Look in the `/usr/share/consolefonts` directory for valid screen fonts.

The `/etc/vconsole.conf` file should contain lines of the form: `VARIABLE=value`. The following variables are recognized:

KEYMAP

  This variable specifies the key mapping table for the keyboard. If unset, it defaults to `us`.

KEYMAP_TOGGLE

  This variable can be used to configure a second toggle keymap and is unset by default.

FONT

  This variable specifies the font used by the virtual console.

FONT_MAP

  This variable specifies the console map to be used.

FONT_UNIMAP

  This variable specifies the Unicode font map.

We'll use `C.UTF-8` as the locale for interactive sessions in the Linux console in Section 9.7, “Configuring the System Locale.” The console fonts shipped by the Kbd package containing the glyphs for all characters from the program messages in the `C.UTF-8` locale are `LatArCyrHeb*.psfu.gz`, `LatGrkCyr*.psfu.gz`, `Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz`, and `pancyrillic.f16.psfu.gz` in `/usr/share/consolefonts` (the other shipped console fonts lack glyphs of some characters like the Unicode left/right quotation marks and the Unicode English dash). So set one of them, for example `Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz` as the default console font:

    echo FONT=Lat2-Terminus16 > /etc/vconsole.conf

An example for a German keyboard and console is given below:

    cat > /etc/vconsole.conf << "EOF"
    KEYMAP=de-latin1
    FONT=Lat2-Terminus16
    EOF

You can change KEYMAP value at runtime by using the localectl utility:

    localectl set-keymap MAP

### Note

Please note that the localectl command doesn't work in the chroot environment. It can only be used after the LFS system is booted with systemd.

You can also use localectl utility with the corresponding parameters to change X11 keyboard layout, model, variant and options:

    localectl set-x11-keymap LAYOUT [MODEL] [VARIANT] [OPTIONS]

To list possible values for localectl set-x11-keymap parameters, run localectl with parameters listed below:

list-x11-keymap-models

  Shows known X11 keyboard mapping models.

list-x11-keymap-layouts

  Shows known X11 keyboard mapping layouts.

list-x11-keymap-variants

  Shows known X11 keyboard mapping variants.

list-x11-keymap-options

  Shows known X11 keyboard mapping options.

### Note

Using any of the parameters listed above requires the XKeyboard-Config package from BLFS.

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