Execute startxbmap at login to map Ctrl Caps to Escape

[Rodrigo Morales]

Table of Contents
_________________

1. The context
2. The question
3. Additional information


1 The context
=============

  I've been using Guix for around 1 month. I'd previously used Arch
  Linux. In Arch Linux, I mapped Caps Lock to Ctrl by inserting the
  following statement in my ~/.xinitrc file (see code block below)

  ,----
  | #!/bin/bash
  |
  | setxkbmap -option 'ctrl:nocaps' -layout us
  |
  | exec i3
  `----

  The `~/.xinitrc' file was read by `startx', as you can see in the last
  line of the file `~/.profile' (see code block below)

  ,----
  | (...)
  |
  | startx ~/.xinitrc
  `----

  In Guix, I'm using Emacs with EXWM and I want to map Caps Lock to
  Escape as I did in Arch in Linux. I don't necessarily want to execute
  `startx' or `xinitrc'. I'm happy with whatever solution that guarantee
  that the `setxbmap' command is executed.


2 The question
==============

  What's the Guix way to map Caps Lock to Escape?


3 Additional information
========================

  I found [this(1)] message in help-guix from 22 Mar 2021, someone
  states that it has never been simple to use `xinit' or `startx' in
  Guix.

  I also found [this(2)] thread in help-guix started in 21 Aug 2021,
  where someone reports that startx was not working.

  To me, all seems to indicate that I shouldn't try to use `startxkbmap'
  in `~/.xinitrc' (so that it can be read by `startx' or `xinitrc'), so
  I'm sure there must be a more proper way.

  I could also insert the following statement in my `init.el' file (see
  code block below), but this solution doesn't look clean to me. When I
  switch to i3, this solution wouldn't work.

  ,----
  | (start-process "*foo*" nil "setxkbmap" "-option" "ctrl:nocaps"
"-layout" "us")
  `----


[this(1)] <https://www.mail-archive.com/help-guix@gnu.org/msg11418.html>

[this(2)] <https://www.mail-archive.com/help-guix@gnu.org/msg12256.html>