diff -up gdm-2.25.2/configure.ac.system-keyboard gdm-2.25.2/configure.ac
--- gdm-2.25.2/configure.ac.system-keyboard	2009-02-24 22:51:00.058815966 -0500
+++ gdm-2.25.2/configure.ac	2009-02-24 22:51:00.154816109 -0500
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ AC_SUBST(COMMON_LIBS)
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(DAEMON,
         dbus-glib-1 >= $DBUS_GLIB_REQUIRED_VERSION
         gobject-2.0 >= $GLIB_REQUIRED_VERSION
+	hal
 )
 AC_SUBST(DAEMON_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(DAEMON_LIBS)
diff -up gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-direct.c.system-keyboard gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-direct.c
--- gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-direct.c.system-keyboard	2008-08-26 15:04:00.000000000 -0400
+++ gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-direct.c	2009-02-24 22:55:02.656566009 -0500
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 #include <dbus/dbus-glib.h>
 #include <dbus/dbus-glib-lowlevel.h>
 
+#include <libhal.h>
+
 #include "gdm-session-direct.h"
 #include "gdm-session.h"
 #include "gdm-session-private.h"
@@ -595,14 +597,66 @@ get_default_language_name (GdmSessionDir
     return setlocale (LC_MESSAGES, NULL);
 }
 
+static char *
+get_system_default_layout (GdmSessionDirect *session)
+{
+    DBusConnection *connection;
+    LibHalContext *ctx;
+    char **devices;
+    int n_devices;
+    char *layout;
+    char *result;
+
+    result = NULL;
+
+    connection = dbus_g_connection_get_connection (session->priv->connection);
+    ctx = libhal_ctx_new ();
+    libhal_ctx_set_dbus_connection (ctx, connection);
+
+    if (!libhal_ctx_init (ctx, NULL)) {
+        goto out;
+    }
+
+    devices = libhal_find_device_by_capability (ctx,
+                                                "input.keyboard",
+                                                &n_devices,
+                                                NULL);
+    if (n_devices > 0) {
+        layout = libhal_device_get_property_string (ctx,
+                                                    devices[0],
+                                                    "input.x11_options.XkbLayout",
+                                                    NULL);
+        if (!layout) {
+            layout = libhal_device_get_property_string (ctx,
+                                                        devices[0],
+                                                        "input.xkb.layout",
+                                                        NULL);
+        }
+	result = g_strdup (layout);
+	libhal_free_string (layout);
+    }
+
+    libhal_free_string_array (devices);
+
+    libhal_ctx_shutdown (ctx, NULL);
+    libhal_ctx_free (ctx);
+
+out:
+    if (!result) {
+        result = g_strdup ("us");
+    }
+
+    return result;
+}
+
 static const char *
 get_default_layout_name (GdmSessionDirect *session)
 {
-    if (session->priv->saved_layout != NULL) {
-                return session->priv->saved_layout;
+    if (!session->priv->saved_layout) {
+        session->priv->saved_layout = get_system_default_layout (session);
     }
 
-    return "us";
+    return session->priv->saved_layout;
 }
 
 static char *
@@ -1971,9 +2025,10 @@ setup_session_environment (GdmSessionDir
                                                      "GDM_LANG",
                                                      get_language_name (session));
 
-        gdm_session_direct_set_environment_variable (session,
-                                                     "GDM_KEYBOARD_LAYOUT",
-                                                     get_layout_name (session));
+	if (g_strcmp0 (get_layout_name (session), get_system_default_layout (session)) != 0)
+        	gdm_session_direct_set_environment_variable (session,
+                                                     	     "GDM_KEYBOARD_LAYOUT",
+                                                             get_layout_name (session));
 
         gdm_session_direct_set_environment_variable (session,
                                                      "DISPLAY",
diff -up gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-settings.c.system-keyboard gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-settings.c
--- gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-settings.c.system-keyboard	2008-08-26 15:04:00.000000000 -0400
+++ gdm-2.25.2/daemon/gdm-session-settings.c	2009-02-24 22:51:00.158815919 -0500
@@ -149,8 +149,7 @@ gdm_session_settings_set_layout_name (Gd
 {
         g_return_if_fail (GDM_IS_SESSION_SETTINGS (settings));
 
-        if (settings->priv->layout_name == NULL ||
-            strcmp (settings->priv->layout_name, layout_name) != 0) {
+        if (g_strcmp0 (settings->priv->layout_name, layout_name) != 0) {
                 settings->priv->layout_name = g_strdup (layout_name);
                 g_object_notify (G_OBJECT (settings), "layout-name");
         }