How to deal with several keyboard layouts when accessing a remote server?

Question

I am using two different keyboard layouts (depending on the computer I use) on the same server (one being AZERTY, the other QWERTY).

I would like to have "conditional" mapping options in my .vimrc file, depending on my layout, something like :

if (keyboard_layout == QWERTY)
    nnoremap : ;
    nnoremap ; :
elseif (keyboard_layout == AZERTY)
    inoremap :w <Esc>:w<Return>
endif

Is it possible ? Or is there a "workaround" not too heavy ?

(sorry for the syntax, I haven't coded much .vimrc files yet)

Edit

User @statox gave a very complete answer based on another question asked, I could not test it because I am not 'root' user on the server I'm working on.

I found another way through defining a function, that I posted as answer here.

Depending on your system you probably have an environment variable or a configuration file which contains your current layout. You could read it from your .vimrc and create a condition on it. The problem is that it might be a problem to make this code portable since (as far as I know) not all the distributions keep this information in the same place. — statox, Apr 18 '16 at 15:27
For the users coming to this question I think OP solved his problem by asking this other question — statox, Apr 19 '16 at 11:40
I tried to, but in the end it didn't solve my problem : the $LANG variable does not contain the keyboard layout. In the end I built a function I have to call if I want to change my mappings. — Feffe, Apr 19 '16 at 12:53
What system do you use? Sometimes it is in a configuration file instead of a variable. — statox, Apr 19 '16 at 12:55
@statox : I use a CentOS Linux or a MacOS X, but I always ssh to the server on which I'm working — Feffe, Apr 19 '16 at 12:55
Maybe you could configure each of your machine to send a variable containing the layout (define it manually with that for example ) then on the server you should be able to read the variable you send with the help of your other question. — statox, Apr 19 '16 at 13:00

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:51

What I would recommend is the following:

First on your local machine set an environment variable manually containing your layout:
```
export LAYOUT=AZERTY
```
Then configure ssh to receive this environment variable (Thanks to this question ):

To do so use the ~/.ssh/config file and the SendEnv command. A very basic example would be:
```
Host server
    HostName dev.example.com
    SendEnc LAYOUT
```
you can then ssh to your server with ssh server. (There a lot of documentation of ssh config, you can do a lot of stuff with that).
You also have to configure the server to accept this new variable: In /etc/ssh/sshd_config add the following line (as root):
```
AcceptEnv LAYOUT
```
Finnaly on the server side you can use the answer to this question to read your variable and make your mappings accordingly:
```
if $LAYOUT == 'AZERTY'
…
endif
```

Thanks for the detailed proposition -- one problem though : I am not (and will never be) root on the server I'm using.
Hence I wrote a function in my .vimrc Kbdmodes(lang), where 'lang' can be 'qwerty', 'azerty'. My problem is now to call it "automatically" when vim starts... I'll probably ask a new question if I can't figure it out. — Feffe, Apr 19 '16 at 13:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 19 '16 at 13:48

I did not use any "environment" variable, but I coded a function that I call in the .vimrc file :

" The function in my .vimrc file :
function! Kbdmodes(lang)
   if a:lang=='en'
      imap <akey> <anotherkey>
   elseif a:lang=='fr'
      imap <yetanotherkey> <iamthefourthkey>
   endif
endfunction

let lang='en'
call Kbdmodes(lang)

So far it seems to work. By default, upon starting, vim loads my 'qwerty' (english) bindings ; then if I do :call Kbdmodes('fr') in normal mode, it switches the bindings to my 'azerty' (french) ones.

I hope this can be useful to anybody !

How to deal with several keyboard layouts when accessing a remote server?

2 Answers2