Installing Fedora with unusual language mix - a request for the future Anaconda installer

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TLDR : The future installer should immediately reflect keyboard layouts changes regardless of the language chosen, in order to set encryption passphrases properly.

I just installed Fedora 41 on a new computer, a task I’m pretty used to now. For the longest time I had an issue with the installer, and with the rework coming to F42 I’d like to describe it.

I like my system to be in English, that’s what I’m used to, despite being French. And because I’m French, on laptops I pretty much always have to use AZERTY keyboards (sometimes I change them, but it’s a pain).

So in the first prompt of the installer, I first choose the English (US) option because I want my system to be in English. Then I set the keyboard to French, and put the French layout on top of the list, being the primary one. Sometimes I remove the English layout (but not always since I often use external keyboards that are QWERTY).

After setting the date to Europe and Paris, I move to the disk part, were I chose an automatic configuration, free space to wipe out Windows (the one already there when I bought the laptop) and then I ask to encrypt the system.

Here comes the frustrating part : when asked a passphrase for the encryption, the keyboard is in QWERTY. So I type my passphrase. But I know that when the installation will be finished and I reboot the system, the prompt for the passphrase will be in AZERTY.

It is not a big issue, but it can lead to problems when setting strong passphrases with numbers and special characters like “é,à,è or ü” that are easy in a French keyboard but not in a US layout.

The request is to let the future installer change the keyboard layout during the installation process, when the user is doing the configuration, regardless of the language chosen.

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If you are talking from F42 you probably also have the workstation in mind, right?

Your statement is that with the old anaconda workstation installation this was possible right?

I also prefer to use English while using Portuguese Brazil keyboard layout.

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Ok, I can see the confusion when citing just that part, I thought the rest would be clear.
Let me be precise :
Yes, It’s possible to change the keyboard layout BUT it doesn’t change the keyboard layout in the installer. Meaning, after the installation is finished, you’ll have your new layout.
But while you’re installing Fedora, within the installer, the layout doesn’t change.
So when you’re asked a passphrase for your encrypted disk, you have to type in US layout despite having a keyboard in another language. And that’s the issue.

Does that make sense?

I edited my first post to correct the ambiguity.

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I think this is a valid suggestion. You should probably ask in another channel. You could email the maintainers of Anaconda? You will find there details here anaconda - Fedora Packages

Or you could find a way to contact through the wiki Anaconda - Fedora Project Wiki

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You’re right, and I didn’t even check : I thought my use case was a bit weird, but it turns out, the problem is deeper than that. In the ongoing installer, neither the language setup nor the keyboard setup are able to change the keyboard layout during the installation process.

I never realized. I thought I had to type in US because of the regional setup (the global language). And then the keyboard layout was overlooked because 99% of the time you have a keyboard corresponding to your language.
The reality is, even if you set your global language to Italian, Portuguese or French your keyboard is still using a US layout during the installation process.

This is bad. And of course a lot of people had this issue for a long time, so it’s a very known issue apparently. I looked at the reviews from the “Anaconda test day” back in November and the topic is discussed :

The problem is set to be fixed before release, so that’s very good news.

So, well, yes, I should have looked more carefully but I sincerely thought I had a fringe little complain for an edge case from a freak user :japanese_ogre:. My bad.

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Beat to raise a ticket against the f42 installer with this issue if you wish to see it fixed. Use component anaconda-webui.