Open Radar

 
Summary: Karabiner (previously KeyRemap4MacBook) is a (arguably _the_) "powerful and stable keyboard customizer" for OS X. It is used by thousands of people to remap or modify their keyboard input _at a low level_ for productivity, i18n, and a11y reasons, and has functioned on Mac OS X versions 10.5 through 10.11.

Changes to IOKit in macOS Sierra break Karabiner to the point where it needs a complete rewrite, which is unfeasible in the short term. Around 300 people have reported this as an issue on the project's GitHub page (tekezo/Karabiner, issues #660 and #739), many of which have decided to remain on OS X 10.11 El Capitan or downgrade to El Capitan from Sierra so that they can continue using their keyboards.

Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install Karabiner from https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ on any build of macOS Sierra.
2. Choose Karabiner (keycap icon) > Preferences... from the menu bar and try enabling some of the presets.

Expected Results: The presets should remap keyboard and mouse input as described (this works on Mac OS X versions 10.5 through 10.11). A compatibility layer in Sierra that allows users for continue using Karabiner would be most appreciated.

Actual Results: The Karabiner mappings have no effect on keyboard or mouse input on macOS Sierra.

Version: macOS Sierra (all builds)

Notes: Users are downgrading to El Capitan (or avoiding updating to Sierra) so that they can continue to use their keyboards. Users are also put off of buying the latest MacBook Pro with TouchBar because it runs Sierra. A compatibility layer from Apple in Sierra would allow users to update to the latest version and continue to use their keyboards.

Configuration: Occurs on systems running macOS Sierra, but not on systems running Mac OS X El Capitan or earlier.

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