the Keyboard settings Layout menu doesn't detect layout files in ~/.config/xkb/

[mateowoetam]

Distribution

NixOS 25.11

Package version

6.4.13

Graphics hardware in use

Intel UHD Graphics 615

Frequency

Always

Bug description

I wanted to add a layout defined in $HOME/.config/xkb/ following the instructions from xkbcommon documentation. I have included the symbols file for my layout, named halmak, and the rules file evdev.xml. However, the layout is not appearing in the settings app. My suspicion is that the settings app or the version of libxkbcommon on my system is failing to parse files from either $HOME/.config/xkb/ or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/xkb/.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create the directory $HOME/.config/xkb/ if it does not already exist.
2. Add the layout symbols file named halmak to the $HOME/.config/xkb/symbols/, that I got from here
3. Include the rules file evdev.xml in the $HOME/.config/xkb/rules/ directory.
4. Open the settings app to check available keyboard layouts.
5. Log out and back in.
6. Observe that the halmak layout does not appear in the list.

Expected behavior

When following the steps outlined, the halmak layout should be visible and selectable in the settings app under the keyboard layouts.

Additional information

I've been documenting different environment were adding custom layouts as per the libxkbcommon guide works in this repo