I am testing the new Ubuntu Budgie 26.04 release, but I have run into a critical blocker regarding the keyboard layout indicator.
The Issue:
The Keyboard Layout (or Language Switcher) applet is completely missing from my panel. When checking the system packages via terminal, it says that the budgie-desktop-environment and corresponding applets are fully installed. However, when I open Budgie Desktop Settings → Top Panel → Applets and click the “+” button, the Keyboard Layout applet does not appear in the list of available applets at all.
What I have tried so far:
I tried resetting the panel via budgie-panel --reset --replace, but it didn’t bring the applet back or make it appear in the settings list.
I attempted to use alternative input methods like iBus / ibus-setup to add a tray indicator, but these workarounds do not work or show up in the new Wayland/Labwc session either.
Because having a visible keyboard layout indicator is essential for my daily multi-language workflow, I have to downgrade and stay on Ubuntu Budgie 24.04 LTS for now until this is resolved.
Is this a known limitation of the transition to Wayland/Labwc in 26.04, or is there a specific config file (like rc.xml) or a missing experimental package I need to look into?
Thank you for your hard work on the 26.04 release!
Otherwise, if you only need two keyboard layouts, you can switch between them by pressing Shift+Alt+L.
Sometimes—not always, but I can’t seem to reproduce it anymore—this also displays an “L” this also displays an “L” that you have to delete but the switch works fine, even with UB 26.04:
azertyL
qwertyL
azerty
PS: But this works better (using the Alt+Shift combination):