pyrox.dev
1<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
2 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
3 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
4 version="5.0"
5 xml:id="module-services-input-methods">
6
7<title>Input Methods</title>
8
9<para>Input methods are an operating system component that allows any data, such
10 as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way
11 users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices. Using
12 an input method is obligatory for any language that has more graphemes than
13 there are keys on the keyboard.</para>
14
15<para>The following input methods are available in NixOS:</para>
16
17<itemizedlist>
18 <listitem><para>IBus: The intelligent input bus.</para></listitem>
19 <listitem><para>Fcitx: A customizable lightweight input
20 method.</para></listitem>
21 <listitem><para>Nabi: A Korean input method based on XIM.</para></listitem>
22 <listitem><para>Uim: The universal input method, is a library with a XIM
23 bridge.</para></listitem>
24</itemizedlist>
25
26<section xml:id="module-services-input-methods-ibus"><title>IBus</title>
27
28<para>IBus is an Intelligent Input Bus. It provides full featured and user
29 friendly input method user interface.</para>
30
31<para>The following snippet can be used to configure IBus:</para>
32
33<programlisting>
34i18n.inputMethod = {
35 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.enabled">enabled</link> = "ibus";
36 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.ibus.engines">ibus.engines</link> = with pkgs.ibus-engines; [ anthy hangul mozc ];
37};
38</programlisting>
39
40<para><literal>i18n.inputMethod.ibus.engines</literal> is optional and can be
41 used to add extra IBus engines.</para>
42
43<para>Available extra IBus engines are:</para>
44
45<itemizedlist>
46 <listitem><para>Anthy (<literal>ibus-engines.anthy</literal>): Anthy is a
47 system for Japanese input method. It converts Hiragana text to Kana Kanji
48 mixed text.</para></listitem>
49 <listitem><para>Hangul (<literal>ibus-engines.hangul</literal>): Korean input
50 method.</para></listitem>
51 <listitem><para>m17n (<literal>ibus-engines.m17n</literal>): m17n is an input
52 method that uses input methods and corresponding icons in the m17n
53 database.</para></listitem>
54 <listitem><para>mozc (<literal>ibus-engines.mozc</literal>): A Japanese input
55 method from Google.</para></listitem>
56 <listitem><para>Table (<literal>ibus-engines.table</literal>): An input method
57 that load tables of input methods.</para></listitem>
58 <listitem><para>table-others (<literal>ibus-engines.table-others</literal>):
59 Various table-based input methods. To use this, and any other table-based
60 input methods, it must appear in the list of engines along with
61 <literal>table</literal>. For example:
62<programlisting>
63ibus.engines = with pkgs.ibus-engines; [ table table-others ];
64</programlisting>
65 </para></listitem>
66</itemizedlist>
67
68<para>To use any input method, the package must be added in the configuration,
69 as shown above, and also (after running <literal>nixos-rebuild</literal>) the
70 input method must be added from IBus' preference dialog.</para>
71
72<simplesect xml:id="module-services-input-methods-troubleshooting">
73 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
74 <para>If IBus works in some applications but not others, a likely cause of
75 this is that IBus is depending on a different version of
76 <literal>glib</literal> to what the applications are depending on. This can
77 be checked by running <literal>nix-store -q --requisites <path> | grep
78 glib</literal>, where <literal><path></literal> is the path of either
79 IBus or an application in the Nix store. The <literal>glib</literal>
80 packages must match exactly. If they do not, uninstalling and reinstalling
81 the application is a likely fix.</para>
82</simplesect>
83</section>
84
85<section xml:id="module-services-input-methods-fcitx"><title>Fcitx</title>
86
87<para>Fcitx is an input method framework with extension support. It has three
88 built-in Input Method Engine, Pinyin, QuWei and Table-based input
89 methods.</para>
90<para>The following snippet can be used to configure Fcitx:</para>
91
92<programlisting>
93i18n.inputMethod = {
94 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.enabled">enabled</link> = "fcitx";
95 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.fcitx.engines">fcitx.engines</link> = with pkgs.fcitx-engines; [ mozc hangul m17n ];
96};
97</programlisting>
98
99<para><literal>i18n.inputMethod.fcitx.engines</literal> is optional and can be
100 used to add extra Fcitx engines.</para>
101
102<para>Available extra Fcitx engines are:</para>
103
104<itemizedlist>
105 <listitem><para>Anthy (<literal>fcitx-engines.anthy</literal>): Anthy is a
106 system for Japanese input method. It converts Hiragana text to Kana Kanji
107 mixed text.</para></listitem>
108 <listitem><para>Chewing (<literal>fcitx-engines.chewing</literal>): Chewing is
109 an intelligent Zhuyin input method. It is one of the most popular input
110 methods among Traditional Chinese Unix users.</para></listitem>
111 <listitem><para>Hangul (<literal>fcitx-engines.hangul</literal>): Korean input
112 method.</para></listitem>
113 <listitem><para>Unikey (<literal>fcitx-engines.unikey</literal>): Vietnamese input
114 method.</para></listitem>
115 <listitem><para>m17n (<literal>fcitx-engines.m17n</literal>): m17n is an input
116 method that uses input methods and corresponding icons in the m17n
117 database.</para></listitem>
118 <listitem><para>mozc (<literal>fcitx-engines.mozc</literal>): A Japanese input
119 method from Google.</para></listitem>
120 <listitem><para>table-others (<literal>fcitx-engines.table-others</literal>):
121 Various table-based input methods.</para></listitem>
122</itemizedlist>
123</section>
124
125<section xml:id="module-services-input-methods-nabi"><title>Nabi</title>
126
127<para>Nabi is an easy to use Korean X input method. It allows you to enter
128 phonetic Korean characters (hangul) and pictographic Korean characters
129 (hanja).</para>
130<para>The following snippet can be used to configure Nabi:</para>
131
132<programlisting>
133i18n.inputMethod = {
134 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.enabled">enabled</link> = "nabi";
135};
136</programlisting>
137</section>
138
139<section xml:id="module-services-input-methods-uim"><title>Uim</title>
140
141<para>Uim (short for "universal input method") is a multilingual input method
142 framework. Applications can use it through so-called bridges.</para>
143<para>The following snippet can be used to configure uim:</para>
144
145<programlisting>
146i18n.inputMethod = {
147 <link linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.enabled">enabled</link> = "uim";
148};
149</programlisting>
150
151<para>Note: The <xref linkend="opt-i18n.inputMethod.uim.toolbar"/> option can be
152 used to choose uim toolbar.</para>
153
154</section>
155</chapter>