A complete configuration for writing LaTeX documents with NeoVim.
The following sections provide installation instructions for Mac, Arch, and Debian operating systems. In the CheatSheet.md you can find all of the key-bindings that I have added to NeoVim for writing LaTeX documents, where the LearningGit.md provides resources specifically geared for integrating Git into your workflow. You can also find video series which: (1) demonstrates the resulting functionality of the present configuration; (2) walks through the installation process; (3) explains how to modify the configuration for your own needs; and (4) indicates how to use Git to track changes and collaborate with others.
The programs covered include: NeoVim, Git, Skim/Zathura, Zotero, Alacritty, Tmux, and Fish. I will also include information for globally remapping keys to better suit writing LaTeX documents with NeoVim.
Open the terminal by hitting Command+Space and typing 'terminal'.
You may check whether you already have Homebrew installed by entering the following into the terminal:
brew --version
If Homebrew is installed, it will report which version you have which you can update by means of the following:
brew update
If Homebrew has not been installed, you may install it by running the following two commands:
xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Although optional, I highly recommend that inexperienced users begin by installing Fish which makes working insider the terminal a little easier. Otherwise, you can skip to the next section. To install Fish, run the following commands in turn:
brew install fish
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oh-my-fish/oh-my-fish/master/bin/install | fish
omf install sashimi
To delete the welcome message, run:
set fish_greeting
Check if Node is installed by running:
node --version
If Node is not installed, run:
brew install node
Check if Python 2 and 3 are installed by running the following:
Python2 --version
Python3 --version
If either version of Python is missing, run:
brew install python
Install NeoVim by entering:
brew install neovim
Once the installation is complete, open NeoVim by entering:
nvim
To check the health of your NeoVim install, enter the following in normal-mode (enter normal-mode in NeoVim by hitting escape) in NeoVim:
:checkhealth
If Python 3 reports an error, run following in the terminal (to exit NeoVim, write :qa!):
pip3 install --user pynvim
Continue to run :checkhealth in NeoVim, following the instructions under the reported errors until all errors are gone (the Python 2 errors may be ignored).
This may involve doing some research if errors persist.
NeoVim comes with an extremely austere set of defaults, including no mouse support, making it difficult to use prior to configuration. In order to install plugins, extending the features included in NeoVim, run the following:
sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'
Install the FZF fuzzy finder, Ripgrep, and Pandoc by running the following commands, respectively:
brew install fzf
brew install ripgrep
brew install pandoc
brew install pandoc-citeproc
Check to see whether Git is already installed by entering the following:
git --version
If Git is not installed, run:
brew install git
Next install LazyGit by running:
brew install jesseduffield/lazygit/lazygit
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
Assuming that you are using GitHub to host your repositories, it is convenient to install the GitHub Cli which allows you to make changes to your repositories directly from the terminal inside NeoVim:
brew install gh
For further information, see the section GitHub Cli in the Cheat Sheet as well as the GitHub Cli Repo.
If you have not already, you can also add an SSH key by amending and running the following:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
Hit return once, entering your GitHub passphrase in response to the prompt.
Next run:
bash
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Run the following to copy the SSH key to your system clipboard:
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
In the top right corner of your GitHub page, click Profile -> Settings -> SSH and GPG Keys selecting New SSH Key.
Name the key after the devise you are using, pasting the SSH key from the clipboard into the appropriate field.
Saving the key completes the addition.
Check to make sure that the SSH key is working by pushing commits up to one of your repositories (see (Git Part 2) for details). If your SSH key stops working after rebooting, run the following command:
ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa
If you get an error, retry the command above with a lowercase 'k'.
Create a personal access token (PAT) by going to GitHub.com, clicking your user icon in the top right, navigate to Setting --> Developer settings --> Personal access tokens, and set:
- No expiration date
- Select
repoin scope/permissions
You must then copy the PAT, pasting it into a temporary file saved on your computer.
Next, open a terminal and run git config -l to see if you have already set the appropriate username and email.
You can add these (if missing or incorrect) with the following commands:
git config --global user.name "USERNAME"
git config --global user.email "EMAIL"
git config -l
You can now add your PAT by navigating to a directory in which you have initiated a git repo in which a remote has already been added, opening a file in that repo by running nvim FILE, making some small change in the file, and attempting to push that changes with LazyGit.
That is, once the file is open in NeoVim, hit <space>gg and then A to stage all files, followed by c to commit the staged changes, and P to push changes to the remote repo.
Enter your user name when prompted, followed by your PAT with Ctrl+Shift+v (or other depending on how past is achieved in your terminal enviornment).
Assuming that this push works, close LazyGit with Ctrl+c, and reopen the terminal with Ctrl+t.
Now run the following:
git config --global credential.helper cache
Repeat the steps above to run another test, entering your username and PAT as before. Run one final test, checking to see if your credentials are now automatically submitted, avoiding the need to enter your username and PAT each time you push or pull changes.
For more help, see these video instructions.
In order to clone the configuration files into the appropriate folder on your computer, enter the following into the terminal, hitting return after each line:
cd ~/.config
git init
git remote add origin https://github.com/benbrastmckie/.config.git
git pull origin master
mkdir -p ~/.vim/files/info
sudo pip3 install neovim-remote
If you have not already installed MacTex on your computer, you can run the following command in order to check to see if it is already installed:
latexmk --version
To install MacTex, you can download the package here, or else run the following command:
brew cask install mactex
Reboot your computer, and run NeoVim by entering the following into the terminal:
nvim
After the plugins finish installing, quite NeoVim with :qa!.
Install the Skim pdf viewer by running:
brew cask install skim
If the command above does not work, some have found it helpful to run the following alternative:
brew --cask install skim
You will need to grant permission to open Skim by opening Mac System Settings, and approving the application in Security. In order to tell Vimtex to open Skim, run the following command in the terminal:
nvim ~/.config/nvim/plug-config/vimtex.vim
Once the file has opened in NeoVim, change all occurrences of 'zathura' and 'evince' to 'skim' by entering the following commands in NeoVim:
:%s/'zathura'/'skim'/g
:%s/'evince'/'skim'/g
Save and quit the file by entering :wq in NeoVim in normal-mode.
Open Skim, navigating to the preferences, and select "Check for file changes" as well as "Reload automatically".
In PDF-Tex support, open "Preset" and choose "Custom".
In the "Command" filed, type nvr, and in the "Argument" field, type --remote-silent +"%line" "%file" and close Skim.
After reopening NeoVim, enter the following in normal-mode:
:checkhealth
Ignore any warnings for Python 2, Ruby, and Node.js. If other warnings are present, it is worth following the instructions provided by CheckHealth, or else troubleshooting the errors by Googling the associated messages as needed.
Download and install Zotero along with the appropriate plugin for your preferred browser. Find a paper online, signing in to the journal as necessary and downloading the pdf manually. Now return to the paper on the journal's website and test the browser plugin for Zotero which should be displayed in the top right of the screen. Create the bib and bst directories, and move the .bst bibliography style files into the appropriate folder by running the following:
mkdir -p ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib
cp -R ~/.config/latex/bst ~/Library/texmf/bibtex
Download and install Better BibTex by following these instructions.
Under Edit in the Zotero menu bar, select Preferences and open up the Better BibTex tab.
Under the Citation sub-tab, replace the citation key format with [auth][year].
Also check On item change at the bottom left.
Now switch to the Automatic Export sub-tab and check On Change.
Close the Preferences window, returning to the main Zotero window.
Right-click the main library folder in the left-most column, and select Export Library.
Under the Format dropdown menu, select Better BibTex, selecting the Keep Updated box.
Save the file as Zotero (the extension will be added automatically) to ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib which you previously created.
You are now ready to cite files in your Zotero database.
In order for NeoVim to load icons, it will be imporant to install a NerdFont.
For simplicity, I have included RobotoMono in ~/.config/fonts which you can now move to the appropriate folder on your computer by entering the following in the terminal:
sudo cp -R ~/.config/fonts/RobotoMono/ /Library/Fonts/
If you intend to use the stock terminal, you will need to go into the terminal's settings to change the font to RobotoMono. You are now ready to write LaTex in NeoVim inside the stock terminal. If you intend to upgrade your terminal to Alacritty with Tmux, then proceed as follows:
Run the following in the terminal:
brew cask install alacritty
brew install tmux
You will also need to move the Tmux configuration file to the appropriate location by running:
sudo cp ~/.config/tmux/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf
Assuming that you already installed Fish above, you will now need to locate fish on your operating system by running the following:
which fish
The command should return /usr/local/bin/fish.
Copy the path and run the following:
nvim ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml
Replace /usr/bin/fish with the location of fish, saving and exiting with Space-q.
Quite the terminal and open Alacritty by hitting Ctrl+Space and typing 'Alacritty', running the following to reset Tmux:
tmux kill-server
When you reopen Alacritty Fish should be the default shell inside a Tmux window.
If you want to turn on the Vim keybindings within Fish, run the following:
fish_vi_key_bindings
You are now read use NeoVim in Alacritty, complete with Tmux and the Fish shell.
I highly recommend swapping the CapsLock and Esc keys by opening System Preferences -> Keyboard, and making the appropriate changes.
Open the terminal and run the following commands:
sudo pacman -S neovim
Check to confirm that Python is installed:
python3 --version
If Python is not installed, run:
sudo pacman -S python
To check the health of your NeoVim install, open NeoVim by running nvim in the terminal and enter the following command:
:checkhealth
If Python 3 reports an error, run following in the terminal (to exit NeoVim, write :qa!):
pip3 install --user pynvim
NeoVim comes with an extremely austere set of defaults, including no mouse support, making it difficult to use prior to configuration. In order to install plugins, extending the features included in NeoVim, run the following:
sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'
Install the FZF fuzzy finder, Ripgrep, and Pandoc with the following commands respectively:
sudo pacman -S fzf
sudo pacman -S ripgrep
sudo pacman -S pandoc
sudo pacman -S pandoc-citeproc
Check to see whether Git is already installed by entering the following:
git --version
If Git is not installed, run:
sudo pacman -S install git
If you don't have Yay, you can install it by running the following:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si
If you run into errors, you may be missing the following dependency, which you can add by running:
sudo pacman -S base-devel
Next, install LazyGit using Yay by running:
yay -S lazygit
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
Assuming that you are using GitHub to host your repositories, it is convenient to install the GitHub Cli which allows you to make changes to your repositories directly from the terminal inside NeoVim:
sudo pacman -S github-cli
You will then need to follow the instructions in order to authenticate GitHub Cli by running:
gh auth login
Set NeoVim as your default editor by running:
gh config set editor nvim
For further information, see the section GitHub Cli in the Cheat Sheet as well as the GitHub Cli Repo.
If you have not already, you can also add an SSH key by amending and running the following:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
Hit return once, entering your GitHub passphrase in response to the prompt.
Next run:
bash
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
If you do not have xclip you can install it by running:
sudo pacman -S xclip
After the install, run the following to copy the SSH key to your system clipboard:
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
In the top right corner of your GitHub page, click Profile -> Settings -> SSH and GPG Keys selecting New SSH Key.
Name the key after the devise you are using, pasting the SSH key from the clipboard into the appropriate field.
Saving the key completes the addition.
In order to clone the configuration files into the appropriate folder on your computer, enter the following into the terminal, hitting return after each line:
cd ~/.config
git init
git remote add origin https://github.com/benbrastmckie/.config.git
git pull origin master
mkdir -p ~/.vim/files/info
sudo pacman -S python-pip
sudo pip3 install neovim-remote
sudo pacman -S yarn
If you have not already installed LaTeX on your computer, you can run the following command in order to check to see if it is already installed:
latexmk --version
To install LaTeX, run the following
sudo pacman -S texlive-most
Run NeoVim to install plugins:
nvim
After the plugins finish installing, quite NeoVim with :qa!.
Install the Zathura pdf viewer by running:
sudo pacman -S zathura-pdf-mupdf
Unless you have the Evince pdf viewer installed, you may also want to set Zathura as your default pdf viewer for opening pdfs for the papers you cite via the Vimtex Context Menu. You can do so by editing the following file:
nvim ~/.config/nvim/plug-config/vimtex.vim
Once the file has opened in NeoVim, change all occurrences of 'evince' to 'zathura' by entering the following in NeoVim in normal-mode:
:%s/'evince'/'zathura'/g
Alternatively, you could replace Zathura here with another pdf viewer of your choice, for instance, one that allows you to easily take notes and highlight the associated pdf. After reopening NeoVim, enter the following command:
:checkhealth
Ignore any warnings for Python 2, Ruby, and Node.js. If other warnings are present, it is worth following the instructions provided by CheckHealth, or else troubleshooting the errors by Googling the associated messages as needed.
Download and extract the Zotero tarball in ~/Downloads, and move the extracted contents and set the launcher by running the following in the terminal:
sudo mv ~/Downloads/Zotero_linux-x86_64 /opt/zotero
cd /opt/zotero
sudo ./set_launcher_icon
sudo ln -s /opt/zotero/zotero.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/zotero.desktop
Install Better-BibTex by downloading the latest release here (click on the .xpi).
Go into Tools -> add-ons and click the gear in the upper right-hand corner, selecting Install Add-on From File and navigate to the .xpi file in ~/Downloads.
Go into Edit -> Preferences -> BetterBibTex and set citation key format to [auth][year].
Go into Edit -> Preferences -> Sync entering your username and password, or else create a new account if you have not already done so.
Also check 'On item change' at the bottom left.
Now switch to the 'Automatic Export' sub-tab and check 'On Change'.
Exit Preferences and click the green sync arrow in the to right-hand corner (if you have not previously registered a Zotero database, no change will occur).
Install the appropriate plugin for your browser by following the link here
Find a paper online, sigining in to the journal as necessary and downloading the PDF manually.
Now return to the paper on the journal's website and test the browser plugin for Zotero which should be displayed in the top right of the screen.
Create the bib and bst directories, and move the .bst bibliography style files into the appropriate folder by running the following:
mkdir -p ~/texmf/bibtex/bib
cp -R ~/.config/latex/bst ~/texmf/bibtex
Right-click the main library folder in the left-most column, and select Export Library.
Under the Format dropdown menu, select Better BibTex, selecting the Keep Updated box.
Save the file as Zotero.bib to ~/texmf/bibtex/bib which you previously created.
You are now ready to cite files in your Zotero database.
In order for NeoVim to load icons, it will be imporant to install a NerdFont.
For simplicity, I have included RobotoMono in ~/.config/fonts which you can now move to the appropriate folder on your computer by entering the following in the terminal:
sudo cp -R ~/.config/fonts/RobotoMono/ /usr/share/fonts
If you intend to use the stock terminal, you will need to go into the terminal's settings to change the font to RobotoMono regular. You are now ready to write LaTex in NeoVim inside the stock terminal. If you intend to upgrade your terminal to Alacritty with Tmux and the Fish shell, then proceed as follows:
Run the following in the terminal:
sudo pacman -S alacritty
sudo pacman -S tmux
sudo pacman -S fish
You will also need to move the Tmux configuration file to the appropriate location by running:
sudo cp ~/.config/tmux/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf
Assuming that you installed Fish above, you will now need to locate fish on your operating system by running the following:
which fish
The command should return /usr/bin/fish.
If the path is different, copy the path and run the following:
nvim ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml
Replace '/usr/bin/fish' with the location of fish if different, saving and exiting with Space-q.
Quite the terminal and open Alacritty, running the following to set a reasonable theme for Fish:
curl -L https://get.oh-my.fish | fish
omf install sashimi
To delete the welcome message, run:
set fish_greeting
In order to reset Tmux, run:
tmux kill-server
When you reopen Alacritty, Fish should be the default shell inside a Tmux window. If you want to turn on the Vim keybindings within Fish, run the following:
fish_vi_key_bindings
You are now read use NeoVim in Alacritty, complete with Tmux and the Fish shell. I highly recommend swapping the CapsLock and Esc keys as detailed below for using Arch on a Macbook Pro.
Open the terminal and run the following commands:
sudo apt install neovim
Check to confirm that Python is installed:
python3 --version
If Python is not installed, run:
sudo apt install python
To check the health of your NeoVim install, open NeoVim by running nvim in the terminal and enter the following command:
:checkhealth
If Python 3 reports an error, run following in the terminal (to exit NeoVim, write :qa!):
pip3 install --user pynvim
NeoVim comes with an extremely austere set of defaults, including no mouse support, making it difficult to use prior to configuration. In order to install plugins, extending the features included in NeoVim, run the following:
sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'
Install the FZF fuzzy finder, Ripgrep, and Pandoc with the following commands respectively:
sudo apt install fzf
sudo apt install ripgrep
sudo apt install pandoc
sudo apt install pandoc-citeproc
Check to see whether Git is already installed by entering the following:
git --version
If Git is not installed, run:
sudo apt install git
Next, install LazyGit using Launchpad by running:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lazygit-team/release
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lazygit
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
Assuming that you are using GitHub to host your repositories, it is convenient to install the GitHub Cli which allows you to make changes to your repositories directly from the terminal inside NeoVim:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key C99B11DEB97541F0
sudo apt-add-repository https://cli.github.com/packages
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gh
You will then need to follow the instructions in order to authenticate GitHub Cli by running:
gh auth login
Set NeoVim as your default editor by running:
gh config set editor nvim
For further information, see the section GitHub Cli in the Cheat Sheet as well as the GitHub Cli Repo.
If you have not already, you can also add an SSH key by amending and running the following:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
Hit return once, entering your GitHub passphrase in response to the prompt.
Next run:
bash
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
If you do not have xclip you can install it by running:
sudo apt install xclip
After the install, run the following to copy the SSH key to your system clipboard:
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
In the top right corner of your GitHub page, click Profile -> Settings -> SSH and GPG Keys selecting New SSH Key.
Name the key after the devise you are using, pasting the SSH key from the clipboard into the appropriate field.
Saving the key completes the addition.
In order to clone the configuration files into the appropriate folder on your computer, enter the following into the terminal, hitting return after each line:
cd ~/.config
git remote add origin https://github.com/benbrastmckie/.config.git
git pull origin master
mkdir -p ~/.vim/files/info
sudo apt install python-pip
sudo pip3 install neovim-remote
sudo apt install yarn
If you have not already installed LaTeX on your computer, you can run the following command in order to check to see if it is already installed:
latexmk --version
To install LaTeX, run the following
sudo apt install texlive-full
Run NeoVim to install plugins:
nvim
After the plugins finish installing, quite NeoVim with :qa!.
Install the Zathura pdf viewer by running:
sudo apt install zathura-pdf-mupdf
After reopening NeoVim, enter the following command:
:checkhealth
Ignore any warnings for Python 2, Ruby, and Node.js. If other warnings are present, it is worth following the instructions provided by CheckHealth, or else troubleshooting the errors by Googling the associated messages as needed.
Download and extract the Zotero tarball in ~/Downloads, and move the extracted contents and set the launcher by running the following in the terminal:
sudo mv ~/Downloads/Zotero_linux-x86_64 /opt/zotero
cd /opt/zotero
sudo ./set_launcher_icon
sudo ln -s /opt/zotero/zotero.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/zotero.desktop
Install Better-BibTex by downloading the latest release here (click on the .xpi).
Go into Tools -> add-ons and click the gear in the upper right-hand corner, selecting Install Add-on From File and navigate to the .xpi file in ~/Downloads.
Go into Edit -> Preferences -> BetterBibTex and set citation key format to [auth][year].
Go into Edit -> Preferences -> Sync entering your username and password, or else create a new account if you have not already done so.
Also check 'On item change' at the bottom left.
Now switch to the 'Automatic Export' sub-tab and check 'On Change'.
Exit Preferences and click the green sync arrow in the to right-hand corner (if you have not previously registered a Zotero database, no change will occur).
Install the appropriate plugin for your browser by following the link here
Find a paper online, sigining in to the journal as necessary and downloading the PDF manually.
Now return to the paper on the journal's website and test the browser plugin for Zotero which should be displayed in the top right of the screen.
Create the bib and bst directories, and move the .bst bibliography style files into the appropriate folder by running the following:
mkdir -p ~/texmf/bibtex/bib
cp -R ~/.config/latex/bst ~/texmf/bibtex
Right-click the main library folder in the left-most column, and select Export Library.
Under the Format dropdown menu, select Better BibTex, selecting the Keep Updated box.
Save the file as Zotero.bib to ~/texmf/bibtex/bib which you previously created.
You are now ready to cite files in your Zotero database.
In order for NeoVim to load icons, it will be imporant to install a NerdFont.
For simplicity, I have included RobotoMono in ~/.config/fonts which you can now move to the appropriate folder on your computer by entering the following in the terminal:
sudo cp -R ~/.config/fonts/RobotoMono/ /usr/share/fonts
If you intend to use the stock terminal, you will need to go into the terminal's settings to change the font to RobotoMono regular. You are now ready to write LaTex in NeoVim inside the stock terminal. If you intend to upgrade your terminal to Alacritty with Tmux and the Fish shell, then proceed as follows:
Run the following in the terminal:
sudo apt install alacritty
sudo apt install tmux
sudo apt install fish
You will also need to move the Tmux configuration file to the appropriate location by running:
sudo cp ~/.config/tmux/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf
Assuming that you installed Fish above, you will now need to locate fish on your operating system by running the following:
which fish
The command should return /usr/bin/fish.
If the path is different, copy the path and run the following:
nvim ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml
Replace '/usr/bin/fish' with the location of fish if different, saving and exiting with Space-q.
Quite the terminal and open Alacritty, running the following to set a reasonable theme for Fish:
curl -L https://get.oh-my.fish | fish
omf install sashimi
To delete the welcome message, run:
set fish_greeting
In order to reset Tmux, run:
tmux kill-server
When you reopen Alacritty, Fish should be the default shell inside a Tmux window. If you want to turn on the Vim keybindings within Fish, run the following:
fish_vi_key_bindings
You are now read use NeoVim in Alacritty, complete with Tmux and the Fish shell. I highly recommend swapping the CapsLock and Esc keys as detailed below for using Debian on a Macbook Pro.
It can be convenient to swap keys so as to improve hand posture while working. For instance, one might switch the CapsLock and Esc keys, as well as turning Ctrl into Alt, Alt into Command, and Command into Ctrl. To include these remappings, run the following commands for Arch and Debian, respectively:
Arch:
sudo pacman -S xorg-xmodmap
sudo pacman -S xorg-xev
sudo pacman -S xorg-setxkbmap
Debian:
sudo apt install xorg-xmodmap
sudo apt install xorg-xev
sudo apt install xorg-setxkbmap
In order to test to confirm the keycodes for your keyboard, run the following:
xev | awk -F'[ )]+' '/^KeyPress/ { a[NR+2] } NR in a { printf "%-3s %s\n", $5, $8 }'
This will open a white box which, when in focus, will print the keycodes of the depressed keys.
In particular, test the Ctrl as well as both Alt/Option and Command keys on the left and right side of the keyboard.
In order to get the Command keys to register, you will need to press Shift+Command which will print the keycode for Shift followed by the keycode for Command.
Close the white box upon finishing, checking to see if the output matches the following:
37 control
64 Alt_L
133 Super_L
134 Super_R
108 Alt_R
If you output matches the above, you can run the following:
sudo cp ~/.config/.XmodmapMAC ~/.Xmodmap
If your output does not match the above, you will need to edit the following file accordingly by running:
nvim ~/.config/.Xmodmap
If you need to make changes to key mappings, you can test the result of editing .Xmodmap and running the following:
xmodmap ~/.config/.Xmodmap
Once you have .Xmodmap running the right key mappings, you will have to run the following so that .Xmodmap starts automatically:
sudo cp ~/.config/.Xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
cp ~/.config/.xmodmap.desktop ~/.config/autostart/
You can return to defaults by running:
setxkbmap
Once you achieve the desired result, reboot and confirm that the mappings are running as desired.