ydotool-rebind

A wrapper for ydotool that translates keyboard input from non-QWERTY layouts to QWERTY, allowing proper text input with AZERTY, QWERTZ, and other keyboard layouts.

What is this?

ydotool is a Linux keyboard/mouse automation tool that internally uses QWERTY layout regardless of your system keyboard layout. This wrapper automatically translates input to QWERTY before passing it to ydotool.

Example (French AZERTY):

• Input: ydotool type "Bonjour"
• Without wrapper: Types Vonjout
• With wrapper: Types Bonjour

Supported layouts

Layout	Description	Key differences
fr	French AZERTY	a/q, z/w, m swaps, accents
de	German QWERTZ	z/y swap, umlauts, sharp s
be	Belgian AZERTY	Similar to FR, different number row
it	Italian	QWERTY-based, accented vowels on special keys
es	Spanish	QWERTY-based, ñ, ç, ¡/¿, dead keys for accents
us	US QWERTY	Passthrough (no translation)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/david-vct/ydotool-rebind.git
cd ydotool-rebind
sudo ./install.sh

Requirements: ydotool installed, Bash 4.0+, root access

The installer follows standard Linux filesystem conventions:

• main wrapper executable: /usr/local/bin/ydotool
• internal translator script: /usr/local/lib/ydotool-rebind/ydotool-translate.sh

If an older version was previously installed in /usr/bin, the installer automatically migrates it to the new layout.

Configuration

The layout is detected automatically by cascade:

1. YDOTOOL_LAYOUT environment variable
2. /etc/ydotool-rebind/config file (LAYOUT=fr)
3. setxkbmap auto-detection (X11)
4. localectl auto-detection (systemd)
5. Fallback: fr

To change the default layout:

# Edit config file
sudo nano /etc/ydotool-rebind/config
# Set: LAYOUT=de

# Or use environment variable
YDOTOOL_LAYOUT=de ydotool type "Hallo Welt"

Usage

After installation, use ydotool normally:

# Types correctly with your keyboard layout
ydotool type "Bonjour, ça va ?"

# File mode
ydotool type -f /path/to/file.txt

# Other commands work as usual
ydotool key Return
ydotool mousemove 100 100

How it works

1. Wrapper intercepts all ydotool commands
2. For type commands: loads the keyboard layout mapping and translates text
3. Passes translated result to real ydotool

Supported characters

• French accents: e, e, e, a, u, c (circumflex, diaeresis)
• German umlauts: a, o, u, ss
• Ligatures: ae, oe
• All layout-specific symbols and key positions

Debug

DEBUG=1 ydotool type "test"
# Log: /tmp/ydotool-translate-debug.log

Uninstall

sudo ./uninstall.sh

The uninstall script removes the current /usr/local installation and also restores the original /usr/bin/ydotool if it detects a legacy installation.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE