source: chapter07/console.xml@ 3546862

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<sect1 id="ch-scripts-console">
<title>Configuring the Linux console</title>
<?dbhtml filename="console.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-scripts-console">
<primary sortas="d-console">console</primary>
<secondary>configuring</secondary></indexterm>

<para>In this section we will configure the <command>console</command>
initscript that sets up the keyboard
map and the console font. If you are a native English speaker so that you
don't need to use any non-ASCII characters, and your keyboard is a US one,
skip this section. Without the configuration file,
the <command>console</command> initscript will do nothing.</para>

<para>The <command>console</command> script uses the
<filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename>
as a configuration file. You need to decide which keymap and screen font you
will use. The language-specific HOWTO can help you.
A pre-made
<filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename> file with known
good settings for several countries was installed with the LFS-Bootscripts
package, and you just have to uncomment
the relevant section if your country is supported (but read the rest
of this section anyway).
If still in doubt,
look into <filename class="directory">/usr/share/kbd</filename>
for valid keymaps and screen fonts. Then read the <command>loadkeys</command>
and <command>setfont</command> manual pages and figure out the correct
arguments for these programs.
Once you decided, create the
configuration file with the following command:</para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt;/etc/sysconfig/console &lt;&lt;"EOF"</userinput>
KEYMAP="<emphasis>arguments for loadkeys</emphasis>"
FONT="<emphasis>arguments for setfont</emphasis>"
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>

<para>E.g., for Spanish users who also want to use the Euro character
(accessible by pressing Alt+E),
the following settings are correct:</para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt;/etc/sysconfig/console &lt;&lt;"EOF"</userinput>
KEYMAP="es euro"
FONT="lat9-16 -u iso01"
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>

<para>If the KEYMAP or FONT variable is not set, the console initscript
will not run the corresponding program.</para>

<para>In some keymaps, the Backspace and Delete keys send characters
different form ones in the default keymap built into the kernel.
This confuses some applications, e.g. <application>Emacs</application>
displays its help (instead of erasing the character before the cursor)
when you press Backspace. To check if your keymap is affected (this works
only for i386 keymaps):</para>

<screen><userinput>zgrep '\W14\W' /path/to/your/keymap</userinput></screen>

<para>If you see that keycode 14 is Backspace and not Delete,
create the following keymap snippet to fix this issue:</para>

<screen><userinput>mkdir -p /etc/kbd &amp; &amp; cat &gt;/etc/kbd/bs-sends-del &lt;&lt;"EOF"</userinput>
                keycode 14 =    Delete  Delete          Delete  Delete
        alt     keycode 14 =    Meta_Delete
altgr   alt     keycode 14 =    Meta_Delete
                keycode 111 =   Remove
altgr   control keycode 111 =   Boot
control alt     keycode 111 =   Boot
altgr   control alt keycode 111 = Boot
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>

<para>Then tell the <command>console</command> script to load this snippet
after the main keymap:</para>

<screen><userinput>cat &gt;&gt;/etc/sysconfig/console &lt;&lt;EOF</userinput>
KEYMAP_CORRECTION="/etc/kbd/bs-sends-del"
<userinput>EOF</userinput></screen>

<para>If back in <xref linkend="chapter-building-system"/> you decided to go
compile your keymap directly into the kernel (later on in <xref
linkend="chapter-bootable"/>), then strictly speaking you don't need to run the
loadkeys program, since the kernel will set up the keymap for you,
and thus you may omit the KEYMAP variable from the
<filename>/etc/sysconfig/console</filename>
configuration file. If you wish,
you can still have it, this isn't going to hurt you. Keeping it could even
be beneficial, in case you run a lot of different kernels and can't be sure
that the keymap is compiled into every one of them.</para>

</sect1>