wayland-cedilla-fix

One command to make ' + c produce ç instead of ć on Wayland.

Install

Arch Linux (AUR):

yay -S wayland-cedilla-fix
cedilla-fix

Any distro (npx):

npx wayland-cedilla-fix

Any distro (curl):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robertogogoni/wayland-cedilla-fix/main/cedilla-fix.sh | bash

From source:

git clone https://github.com/robertogogoni/wayland-cedilla-fix.git
cd wayland-cedilla-fix
bash cedilla-fix.sh

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The Problem

On Wayland compositors with en_US.UTF-8 locale and the US International keyboard layout, pressing ' + c produces ć (c-acute) instead of ç (c-cedilla). This affects Portuguese, French, Catalan, Turkish, and other languages that use cedilla.

The issue happens because the default Compose table maps dead_acute + c to ć for the en_US locale. On X11, the classic gnome-cedilla-fix patches GTK to intercept this, but that workaround doesn't work on Wayland because:

• GTK4 apps bypass XCompose entirely
• Electron/Chromium apps need explicit --enable-wayland-ime flags
• The compositor's own dead key handling takes priority over user overrides

Before: ' + c → ć   |   After: ' + c → ç

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How It Works

The fix applies a 3-layer approach to cover every app type:

Layer	What it does	Apps covered
Compositor	Sets us-intl keyboard variant with dead keys	All native Wayland apps
fcitx5 / XCompose	Overrides Compose table: dead_acute + c → ç	GTK3, GTK4, Qt, XWayland apps
Browser flags	Adds --enable-wayland-ime to Chromium flags	Chromium, Brave, Electron apps

The script also sets environment variables (GTK_IM_MODULE, QT_IM_MODULE, XMODIFIERS) so all toolkit layers route through the input method framework.

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Compatibility

Compositors

Compositor	Status	Notes
Hyprland	✅ Tested	Auto-patches hyprland.conf
Sway	✅ Supported	Auto-patches config
river	✅ Supported	Via environment config
labwc	✅ Supported	Auto-patches rc.xml
Generic wlroots	⚠️ Partial	Environment-only (no compositor config)

Input Frameworks

Framework	Status	Notes
fcitx5	✅ Full	Profile + XCompose + environment
ibus	⚠️ Partial	XCompose + environment only
None	⚠️ Minimal	XCompose only (install fcitx5 for best results)

Browsers

Browser	Status	Notes
Chromium	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Brave	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Google Chrome	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Google Chrome Canary	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Vivaldi	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Electron apps	✅	--enable-wayland-ime added to flags
Firefox	✅	Works natively (no flags needed)

Distributions

Distro	Status	Notes
Arch Linux	✅ Tested	Primary development target
Fedora	⚠️ Untested	Should work (same packages)
Ubuntu 24.04+	⚠️ Untested	Needs Wayland session
NixOS	⚠️ Untested	May need path adjustments

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Usage

If installed via AUR, use cedilla-fix. If running from source, use bash cedilla-fix.sh. Both are identical.

Apply the fix

cedilla-fix

Runs the full detection → plan → confirm → install → verify flow with animated output.

Check status

cedilla-fix --check

Runs diagnostics on 9 layers: config files, runtime systemd environment, fcitx5 process state, and Hyprland env block.

Quick fix (runtime repair)

cedilla-fix --fix

Repairs runtime issues without a full reinstall: cleans conflicting environment files, injects env vars into the running session, re-injects wiped Hyprland env blocks, and restarts fcitx5. No logout needed.

Dry run

cedilla-fix --dry-run

Shows exactly what would be changed without modifying any files.

Uninstall

cedilla-fix --uninstall

Reverts all changes from the most recent backup. The script creates timestamped backups before every install, so you can always go back.

All options

cedilla-fix [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --help        Show help and exit
  --check       Check current cedilla configuration status
  --fix         Repair runtime env without full reinstall
  --uninstall   Revert to pre-install state from backup
  --dry-run     Show what would be done without making changes
  --force       Skip confirmation prompt

---

Troubleshooting

fcitx5 is not installed

The script works best with fcitx5. Without it, only XCompose overrides are applied (which won't cover GTK4 apps).

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S fcitx5 fcitx5-configtool fcitx5-gtk fcitx5-qt

# Fedora
sudo dnf install fcitx5 fcitx5-configtool fcitx5-gtk fcitx5-qt

Then run the script again.

Changes don't take effect immediately

As of v1.1.0, the installer activates environment variables immediately — no logout needed in most cases. If something still doesn't work, try:

cedilla-fix --fix    # Quick runtime repair

If that doesn't help, a logout/login will reload all session configs.

Cedilla broke after a system update

System or compositor updates can wipe environment variables or reset configurations. Run the quick fix:

cedilla-fix --fix

This repairs the runtime environment without needing logout/login. If --fix doesn't help, run a full cedilla-fix to re-apply all layers.

To diagnose what specifically broke:

cedilla-fix --check

Look for ✗ marks — common issues after updates:

• systemd XCOMPOSEFILE: literal ~ or missing path
• fcitx5 process env: stale environment from before the fix
• Hyprland envs.conf: compositor update wiped the fcitx5 block

Cedilla works in terminals but not in browsers

Chromium-based browsers need the --enable-wayland-ime flag. The script adds this automatically, but if you installed a browser after running the fix:

cedilla-fix  # Re-run to pick up new browsers

Question mark (?) produces colon (:) or other wrong characters

If you added br (Brazilian ABNT2) as a secondary keyboard layout alongside us, switching to the BR layout on a US physical keyboard will break many keys. The BR ABNT2 layout expects a 107-key physical keyboard with extra keys that US keyboards don't have.

Symptoms: Shift+/ produces : instead of ?, other punctuation keys are wrong.

Fix: Remove br from your layout list. This script uses us with variant intl (US International with dead keys), which provides full cedilla support through XCompose and fcitx5 without needing the BR layout:

# Hyprland input.conf — correct
kb_layout = us
kb_variant = intl

# WRONG — do not add br as a second layout with a US physical keyboard
# kb_layout = us,br

If you accidentally toggled to the BR layout, switch back immediately:

# Hyprland
hyprctl switchxkblayout <keyboard-name> 0

# Find your keyboard name with:
hyprctl devices | grep -A1 "Keyboard"

XWayland apps still show ć

XWayland apps use the X11 Compose table. The script installs ~/.XCompose which should cover this, but some apps cache the old table. Try:

# Restart the app, or run the quick fix:
cedilla-fix --fix

GTK4 apps ignore XCompose

This is a known GTK4 limitation. The fix routes through fcitx5 instead of XCompose for GTK4 apps, which is why fcitx5 is strongly recommended.

--check shows "xkbcli not installed"

The live Compose table verification uses xkbcli (from xorg-xkbcli on Arch). This is optional — the fix works without it, but --check can't verify the live Compose mapping.

sudo pacman -S libxkbcommon  # Provides xkbcli

---

How Backups Work

Every time you run the installer, a timestamped backup is created at:

~/.local/share/wayland-cedilla-fix/backup/YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS/

Only files that already existed are backed up. New files created by the script (like ~/.XCompose if it didn't exist before) are tracked separately and removed on uninstall.

To restore manually:

cp -a ~/.local/share/wayland-cedilla-fix/backup/LATEST/* ~/

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Credits

This project builds on the work of:

• gnome-cedilla-fix — the original X11/GNOME cedilla fix
• Arch Wiki: Xorg/Keyboard configuration — XCompose and dead keys reference
• fcitx5 Wiki — input method framework documentation
• Chromium IME flags — Wayland IME integration

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License

MIT