kitten for IME input #469

kovidgoyal · 2018-04-19T09:31:02Z

IME does not work with kitty thanks to limitations of GLFW (glfw/glfw#41). Rather than trying to write code to interface with the IME platforms of every OS (not to mention the dozens of different IME systems in linux/windows), it might be nicer to create a kitten that implements a standard cross-platform IME interface optimized for usage with the keyboard.

Can use the data from the librime project, see https://github.com/rime/plum

Has a couple of pinyin datasets and also nice symbol definitions for entering commonly used unicode symbols. People can contribute other datasets as needed.

The other alternative is to interface with ibus via it's dbus interface, see for example: https://fossies.org/linux/SDL2/src/core/linux/SDL_ibus.c
https://github.com/qt/qtbase/tree/5.11/src/plugins/platforminputcontexts/ibus

This is what most toolkits do on linux, as evidenced by the links above.

derrickcope · 2018-05-01T08:40:00Z

That doesn't help if you need multilingual input. Any timeline on a solution for this.?

kovidgoyal · 2018-05-01T08:50:00Z

Sure it does, it works with any language or combination of languages. As for a timeline, it will be done when it is done, if you want it to come faster, feel free to contribute.

derrickcope · 2018-05-01T09:37:59Z

I don't believe it will work for Chinese since there are several hundred characters that would need to be input in a normal document. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your proposal for a work around though. Also, my use case may be special since I write in the terminal with nvim and then convert to PDF. I wish I could contribute but I don't think my programming skill are there yet. Thanks for the extremely helpful reply though. Looks like a nice project, I will check back later.

imyxh · 2018-06-04T04:10:31Z

@derrickcope: I don't believe it will work for Chinese since there are several hundred characters that would need to be input in a normal document.

Isn't that the whole plan? LibreIME has a pinyin dataset that can be used to map pinyin to characters.
Although I must say that the solution on GLFW's side seems to be awfully simple, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

kovidgoyal · 2018-06-04T04:16:57Z

The problem with GLFW's solution is that it does not actually work. It causes crashes/hangs and depends on the proper functioning of whatever IME system happens to be installed by the OS, which especially on linux is a total crapshoot.

imyxh · 2018-06-04T05:13:25Z

Alright, then. I actually think providing the option to use the OS's IME system isn't necessarily a bad idea; many people like me already have IBus or something set up to their liking, and it would prevent the need for a separate keyboard shortcut. But if that would require code for integration with each IME then I suppose it's not worth it.
Perhaps kitty can provide its own IME overriding the normal system shortcut, like how ctrl+alt+u doesn't use the OS unicode input.
It's also probably worth noting that GLFW has set proper IME support for the 3.4 milestone, though they have been pushing it forward since 3.2....

kovidgoyal · 2018-06-04T05:19:36Z

On Sun, Jun 03, 2018 at 10:13:26PM -0700, Ian Huang wrote: Perhaps kitty can provide its own IME overriding the normal system shortcut, like how ctrl+alt+u doesn't use the OS unicode input.

That is precisely what this issue is about.

Akaricchi · 2018-07-06T06:42:52Z

Why is GLFW even used? SDL2 has had integration with the system IME for years.

kovidgoyal · 2018-07-12T01:23:32Z

I looked into this and it looks like on Linux, ibus has become the de-facto standard IME system. So it makes sense to add support for it to GLFW. I have done that in the ibus branch. Note that this required fairly major surgery on GLFW (essentially rewriting its event loop to integrate dbus into it), so it is possible that some things might be broken. Please test.

~~Also, currently while the IME system is working on matches, kitty will not display the typed text in the terminal, that is on my TODO list~~. Other than that everything works in my (rudimentary) testing. The IME popup widow shows up underthe cursor and you can press the numbers to choose matches or press esc to cancel IME. Tested under X11 (should work in wayland as well, but have not tested it, as I have no idea what the status of ibus under wayand is).

In order to test it, build the ibus branch and (with ibus running) start kitty as

GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty --debug-keyboard

You should see debug output about conencting to the IBUS daemon and iME input via ibus should work.

kovidgoyal · 2018-07-12T04:52:21Z

And I also implemented display of the typed text while the IME is in progress.

Fixes #469

Menchen · 2018-07-19T21:34:03Z

Will fcitx be supported in kitty ? (not working for me, using ibus branch and GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx python . --debug-keyboard) I prefer fcitx because it have better compatibility and performance.

kovidgoyal · 2018-07-20T03:05:44Z

No, I'm afraid I dont have the time/interest to support multiple IME systems. You are welcome to write a fcitx backed for glfw based on my ibus one, it should be easy now that I have done the hard work.

derrickcope · 2018-07-24T13:20:20Z

hope someone will write a patch for fcitx. I think it is more stable than ibus, at least for Chinese.

derrickcope · 2018-07-24T13:23:19Z

hope someone will write a patch for fcitx. I think it is more stable than ibus, at least for Chinese.

Fixes kovidgoyal#469

char · 2018-09-02T17:02:46Z

ibus-hangul broken - Cannot use space or backspace when in hangul mode.

kovidgoyal · 2018-09-07T11:07:06Z

Just a heads up: for the next kitty release 0.12.1 I am going to turn off IME by default. You need to set the environment variable:

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus

to re-enable it. This is because there have been lots of bug reports about ibus causing keyboard latency/dropped keys. Given that one of kitty's primary goals is reducing input latency, I have decided to turn IME off by default. Apologies for any inconvenience.

MaskRay · 2019-10-14T10:32:46Z

Just to provide some motivation for better IME support. I tried migrating from another terminal emulator and just noticed this issue - I cannot type Chinese with fcitx in a kitty window.

chux0519 · 2019-10-19T12:54:35Z

Just to provide some motivation for better IME support. I tried migrating from another terminal emulator and just noticed this issue - I cannot type Chinese with fcitx in a kitty window.\

Me too, I found that kitty's response is faster than others(sakura / alacritty).

nicewarmcoffee · 2020-12-09T16:00:03Z

Unfortunately, ibus does not work with sway yet. =(

qwIvan · 2021-01-20T04:04:02Z

Just to provide some motivation for better IME support. I tried migrating from another terminal emulator and just noticed this issue - I cannot type Chinese with fcitx in a kitty window.

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus works for me with fcitx5.

qwIvan · 2021-01-20T05:08:06Z

Just to provide some motivation for better IME support. I tried migrating from another terminal emulator and just noticed this issue - I cannot type Chinese with fcitx in a kitty window.

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus works for me with fcitx5.

'GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx` works for me with fcitx5 too, thanks!

But running in GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx instead of ibus doesn't works for me.

alan-w-255 · 2021-01-20T05:43:25Z

Just to provide some motivation for better IME support. I tried migrating from another terminal emulator and just noticed this issue - I cannot type Chinese with fcitx in a kitty window.

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus works for me with fcitx5.

'GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx` works for me with fcitx5 too, thanks!

But running in GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx instead of ibus doesn't works for me.

Sorry about that. It doesn't work for me neither. I did not check the env carefully.

wengxt · 2021-02-14T17:55:20Z

But running in GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx instead of ibus doesn't works for me.

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus + Fcitx 5 would work. Fcitx5 is able to simulate ibus api.

Adnios · 2021-03-12T11:46:04Z

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty works for me.

nicewarmcoffee · 2021-08-04T05:28:10Z

But running in GLFW_IM_MODULE=fcitx instead of ibus doesn't works for me.

GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus + Fcitx 5 would work. Fcitx5 is able to simulate ibus api.

just tested with:
fcitx 5.0.8
sway 1.6.1
kitty 0.21.2
no xwayland

export IMSETTINGS_MODULE=fcitx5
export INPUT_METHOD=fcitx5
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx5
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx5
export GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx5
export GDK_BACKEND=wayland

Does not work with kitty =(

kovidgoyal · 2021-08-04T05:39:20Z

fcitx does not support the wayland text input method. kitty uses that,
not dbus, on wayland. If you want to use dbus run kitty with
linux_display_server x11

ManInTheSuit · 2021-11-08T10:27:07Z

I apologize for necroing this thread, but how to enable IME support? When run as in this screenshot: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/41060790/110936258-91747580-836b-11eb-9dcd-88ca502ea875.png, it works, but putting export GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus in .bashrc doesn't work. Am I missing something?

Menchen · 2021-11-08T11:01:31Z

@ManInTheSuit You need to pass the environment variable to kitty, exporting it in .bashrc only export it on interactive shell.
What you need to do is export it in your DE or the program that launch kitty, another option is run kitty as GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty. See more info in https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/51036/what-is-the-difference-between-bash-profile-and-bashrc

ManInTheSuit · 2021-11-08T12:39:13Z

@ManInTheSuit You need to pass the environment variable to kitty, exporting it in .bashrc only export it on interactive shell. What you need to do is export it in your DE or the program that launch kitty, another option is run kitty as GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty. See more info in https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/51036/what-is-the-difference-between-bash-profile-and-bashrc

Seeing env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus works for child processes, is there any way to set it for all kitty processes? Launching kitty with GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty doesn't work for some reason in Budgie (the shortcuts application)...

ManInTheSuit · 2021-11-08T12:53:37Z

Ok solved, I launch kitty like this now: sh -c "GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty"

char · 2021-11-08T23:05:00Z

When you want to set an environment variable for a command, you can use env instead of sh à la env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty

ManInTheSuit · 2021-11-08T23:06:17Z

When you want to set an environment variable for a command, you can use env instead of sh à la env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty

Thanks, that works!

LeisureLinux · 2021-11-18T14:17:26Z

I did not find a way to pass the GLFW_IM_MODULE to gsetting default x-terminal-emulator .

tried to run

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

and make it a shell script as:
env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty
but this is not working when called from the default terminal when I press Ctr-Alt-T.

ManInTheSuit · 2021-11-18T23:28:09Z

I did not find a way to pass the GLFW_IM_MODULE to gsetting default x-terminal-emulator .

tried to run
sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator
and make it a shell script as: env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty but this is not working when called from the default terminal when I press Ctr-Alt-T.

I also have alias kitty='GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus command kitty' in my .bashrc, for calling kitty within any other terminal.

Also, on the off chance that you are having troubles with gnome-terminal, I got my kitty to run system-wide with answer from Doron Behar here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/111592/how-do-i-set-the-default-gnome-terminal

ctrlcctrlv · 2022-04-29T09:20:26Z

I started bug #5033 to hopefully expand env to cover this case. That would prevent users from needing aliases, .desktop file hacks, etc.

ctrlcctrlv · 2022-04-29T11:36:00Z

Well, #5033 was closed, but I have a new workaround for the issues I explained above.

If you use KDE, run kmenuedit and edit Kitty like this:

I verified that even if you add Kitty's icon to your desktop, the change is preserved:

If you have an important .desktop file for Kitty already that is not a mere link to /home/fred/.local/share/applications/kitty.desktop (perhaps it's a link to the old system-wide kitty.desktop), that needs to be removed or recreated.

ctrlcctrlv · 2022-04-29T11:41:25Z

Related: Ubuntu bug №1970928.

tin-pham · 2022-08-03T13:26:57Z

Well, #5033 was closed, but I have a new workaround for the issues I explained above.

If you use KDE, run kmenuedit and edit Kitty like this:

I verified that even if you add Kitty's icon to your desktop, the change is preserved:

If you have an important .desktop file for Kitty already that is not a mere link to /home/fred/.local/share/applications/kitty.desktop (perhaps it's a link to the old system-wide kitty.desktop), that needs to be removed or recreated.

Well this worked when i click to icon or launch kitty from terminal, if i open it with shortcut Super+T, it didn't

wizardyhnr · 2022-09-22T15:04:07Z

You can edit kitty.desktop to instruct kitty to launch with GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus.

Below are installation instuctions from kitty's website.
https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/binary/

After that, edit ~/.local/share/applications/kitty.desktop to add env variable in Exec line. It looks like following after that:
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=kitty
GenericName=Terminal emulator
Comment=Fast, feature-rich, GPU based terminal
TryExec=/location/of/kitty
Exec=env GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus /location/of/kitty
Icon=/location/of/kitty/icon
Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;

Done.

BTW, you can also customize icon in this way.

marsevilspirit · 2024-08-25T22:58:24Z

You can add the Fcitx5 configuration in /etc/environment:

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx
SDL_IM_MODULE=fcitx
INPUT_METHOD=fcitx
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus

This way, you will be able to type in Chinese every time you start kitty.

kovidgoyal added enhancement kitten labels Apr 19, 2018

kovidgoyal added a commit that referenced this issue Jul 12, 2018

Add a changelog entry for IBus support

8e702d6

Fixes #469

kovidgoyal added a commit that referenced this issue Jul 12, 2018

Add a changelog entry for IBus support

ee22991

Fixes #469

kovidgoyal added a commit that referenced this issue Jul 12, 2018

Add a changelog entry for IBus support

4f654cc

Fixes #469

kovidgoyal closed this as completed in 202ec17 Jul 12, 2018

This was referenced Jul 31, 2018

fcitx key combo doesn't work with kitty #777

Closed

New release #778

Closed

metayan pushed a commit to metayan/kitty that referenced this issue Aug 1, 2018

Add a changelog entry for IBus support

97fc169

Fixes kovidgoyal#469

kovidgoyal mentioned this issue Sep 7, 2018

can't type Chinese with IME in macOS #910

Closed

SilverBut mentioned this issue Feb 18, 2019

fcitx SilverBut/kitty#1

Open

evanjs mentioned this issue Jan 8, 2020

IBus input methods having no effect in GTK2 NixOS/nixpkgs#11558

Closed

LaserEyess mentioned this issue Jun 29, 2020

Support text-input-method-unstable-v3 for wayland #2814

Closed

ctrlcctrlv mentioned this issue Jan 3, 2021

It should be possible to enable IBus via config file, not just environment variable #3206

Closed

ghsable mentioned this issue Feb 21, 2021

Japanese input bug? #3330

Closed

I-Want-ToBelieve mentioned this issue Nov 23, 2021

Kitty seems to prevent some software registered shortcut keys from taking effect, such as fcitx5 shortcut keys for switching input methods: ctrl + space #4268

Closed

ctrlcctrlv mentioned this issue Apr 29, 2022

env items do not apply to kitty process itself, only its children #5033

Closed

kitten for IME input #469

kitten for IME input #469

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