Comment # 1 on bug 1023775 from Stefan Dirsch

(In reply to Stefan Dirsch from comment #0)
> "localectl set-keymap <map>" doesn't write X11 keyboard snippet, if such a
> snippet does not exist yet. Workaround currently is to run
> 
>   "localectl set-x11-keymap <map>" 
> 
> beforehand. 

Arghh. I've meant

  localectl set-x11-keymap us
                           ^^

of course ...