---
name: "XkbAllocGeomColors"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libx11"
version: "1.8.14-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/XkbAllocGeomColors"
---

# XkbAllocGeomColors(3)

Allocate geometry colors

## NAME

XkbAllocGeomColors - Allocate geometry colors

## SYNOPSIS

**Status XkbAllocGeomColors** **(XkbGeometryPtr** *geom***,** **int** *num\_needed***);**

## ARGUMENTS

- *geom*

  geometry for which colors should be allocated

- *num\_needed*

  number of new colors required

## DESCRIPTION

Xkb provides a number of functions to allocate and free subcomponents of a keyboard geometry. Use these functions to create or modify keyboard geometries. Note that these functions merely allocate space for the new element(s), and it is up to you to fill in the values explicitly in your code. These allocation functions increase *sz\_\** but never touch *num\_\** (unless there is an allocation failure, in which case they reset both *sz\_\** and *num\_\** to zero). These functions return Success if they succeed, BadAlloc if they are not able to allocate space, or BadValue if a parameter is not as expected.

*XkbAllocGeomColors* allocates space for *num\_needed* colors and adds them to the specified geometry *geom.* A color name is a string whose interpretation is not specified by Xkb. All other geometry data structures refer to colors using their indices in this global list or pointers to colors in this list.

## DIAGNOSTICS

- **BadAlloc**

  Unable to allocate storage

- **BadValue**

  An argument is out of range