1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="vconsole.conf" conditional='ENABLE_VCONSOLE'>
7  <refentryinfo>
8    <title>vconsole.conf</title>
9    <productname>systemd</productname>
10  </refentryinfo>
11
12  <refmeta>
13    <refentrytitle>vconsole.conf</refentrytitle>
14    <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
15  </refmeta>
16
17  <refnamediv>
18    <refname>vconsole.conf</refname>
19    <refpurpose>Configuration file for the virtual console</refpurpose>
20  </refnamediv>
21
22  <refsynopsisdiv>
23    <para><filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename></para>
24  </refsynopsisdiv>
25
26  <refsect1>
27    <title>Description</title>
28
29    <para>The <filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename> file configures
30    the virtual console, i.e. keyboard mapping and console font. It is
31    applied at boot by udev using <filename>90-vconsole.rules</filename> file.
32    You can safely mask this file if you want to avoid this kind of initialization.
33    </para>
34
35    <para>The format of <filename>vconsole.conf</filename> is a newline-separated list of environment-like
36    shell-compatible variable assignments, ignoring comments and empty lines. It is possible to source the
37    configuration from shell scripts, however, beyond mere variable assignments no shell features are
38    supported, allowing applications to read the file without implementing a shell compatible execution
39    engine. See
40    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>os-release</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for a
41    detailed description of the format.</para>
42
43    <para>Note that the kernel command line options
44    <varname>vconsole.keymap=</varname>,
45    <varname>vconsole.keymap_toggle=</varname>,
46    <varname>vconsole.font=</varname>,
47    <varname>vconsole.font_map=</varname>,
48    <varname>vconsole.font_unimap=</varname> may be used
49    to override the console settings at boot.</para>
50
51    <para>Depending on the operating system other configuration files
52    might be checked for configuration of the virtual console as well,
53    however only as fallback.</para>
54
55    <para><filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename> is usually created and updated
56    using
57    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-localed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
58    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>localectl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
59    may be used to instruct <command>systemd-localed.service</command> to
60    query or update configuration.</para>
61  </refsect1>
62
63  <refsect1>
64    <title>Options</title>
65
66    <para>The following options are understood:</para>
67
68    <variablelist class='environment-variables'>
69
70      <varlistentry>
71        <term><varname>KEYMAP=</varname></term>
72        <term><varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname></term>
73
74        <listitem><para>Configures the key mapping table for the keyboard.
75        <varname>KEYMAP=</varname> defaults to <literal>us</literal> if not set. The
76        <varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname> can be used to configure a second toggle keymap and is by
77        default unset.</para></listitem>
78      </varlistentry>
79
80      <varlistentry>
81        <term><varname>FONT=</varname></term>
82        <term><varname>FONT_MAP=</varname></term>
83        <term><varname>FONT_UNIMAP=</varname></term>
84
85        <listitem><para>Configures the console font, the console map
86        and the unicode font map.</para></listitem>
87      </varlistentry>
88
89    </variablelist>
90  </refsect1>
91
92  <refsect1>
93    <title>Kernel Command Line</title>
94
95    <para>A few configuration parameters from <filename>vconsole.conf</filename> may be overridden
96    on the kernel command line:</para>
97
98    <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'>
99      <varlistentry>
100        <term><varname>vconsole.keymap=</varname></term>
101        <term><varname>vconsole.keymap_toggle=</varname></term>
102
103        <listitem><para>Overrides <varname>KEYMAP=</varname> and <varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname>.
104        </para></listitem>
105      </varlistentry>
106      <varlistentry>
107
108        <term><varname>vconsole.font=</varname></term>
109        <term><varname>vconsole.font_map=</varname></term>
110        <term><varname>vconsole.font_unimap=</varname></term>
111
112        <listitem><para>Overrides <varname>FONT=</varname>, <varname>FONT_MAP=</varname>, and
113        <varname>FONT_UNIMAP=</varname>.</para></listitem>
114      </varlistentry>
115    </variablelist>
116  </refsect1>
117
118  <refsect1>
119    <title>Example</title>
120
121    <example>
122      <title>German keyboard and console</title>
123
124      <para><filename>/etc/vconsole.conf</filename>:</para>
125
126      <programlisting>KEYMAP=de-latin1
127FONT=eurlatgr</programlisting>
128    </example>
129
130  </refsect1>
131
132  <refsect1>
133      <title>See Also</title>
134      <para>
135        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
136        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-vconsole-setup.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
137        <citerefentry project='mankier'><refentrytitle>loadkeys</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
138        <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>setfont</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
139        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>locale.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
140        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-localed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
141      </para>
142  </refsect1>
143
144</refentry>
145