Compose key can't be set in Settings>Keyboard with GNOME 3.24

[Armin Grodon]

The changes implemented with https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-docs/+bug/1624778 in https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/tips-specialchars.html.en#compose do not reflect the current settings dialog for Ubuntu-Gnome 17.04.

Going from "All Settings" to "Keyboard" switches to "Keyboard Shortcuts" immediately.
The new "Keyboard Shortcuts" dialog does not seem to contain settings for 'compose key' (the group "Typing" only contains "Switch to {next,previous} input source").

PS: In the meantime, where do I find the settings for 'compose key' in Ubuntu-Gnome 17.04? :(

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Please note that the Ubuntu Desktop Guide, i.e.

https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/tips-specialchars.html#compose

is not intended to reflect Ubuntu GNOME 17.04, but only Ubuntu 17.04 (with Unity). OTOH, neither GNOME Help seems to accurately reflect Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 in this respect; changing the affected packages of this bug.

As you say, the GUI option to set a compose key seems to be gone in Ubuntu GNOME 17.04. Can't tell if it's a bad design decision or if there is some other GUI way which is not (yet) documented. Anyway, you can set it with a terminal command.

To make <RightCtrl> the compose key, run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options "['compose:rctrl']"

To see which other keys are possible to use, enter the terminal command:

man xkeyboard-config

and scroll down to the section "Position of Compose key".

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

You can report against gnome-control-center asking them to move the Compose key settings back.

And you can report against gnome-user-docs to document the current way to set the Compose key. (Open Tweak Tool. Switch to the Typing panel. Click Position of Compose key.)

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnome-control-center
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnome-user-docs

[Armin Grodon (x4121)]

Thank's a lot for the answers :)

Bug is reported as https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=781478 (against 'gnome-control-center' since I hope that it's getting changed back, will report it against 'gnome-user-docs' otherwise)

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

A suggestion to install Tweaks is included in the desktop guide as from 17.10.