Advanced input methods in 17.10/18.04

[Aron Xu]

On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 8:26 PM, Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnarhj at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> Forwarding the below message since it seems to have not made it to the list
> for some reason.
>
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Re: Advanced input methods in 17.10/18.04
> Date: Fri, 19 May 2017 21:24:36 +0900
> From: AWASHIRO Ikuya <ikuya at fruitsbasket.info>
> Organization: fruitsbasket.info
> To: Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnarhj at ubuntu.com>
> CC: ubuntu-desktop at lists.ubuntu.com
>
> Hi Gunnar,
>
> On Tue, 9 May 2017 17:56:42 +0200
> Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnarhj at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
>> Going forward I suppose we have these options:
>>
>> 1. Implement support for Fcitx in g-c-c and keep Fcitx as the default IM
>> framework for CJKV. (Does anybody have time to add Fcitx support to g-c-c?
>> Would it be possible to have it accepted upstream?)
>>
>> 2. Keep Fcitx as the default IM framework for CJKV, and let the affected
>> users live with the missing g-c-c integration. (I can't tell how well tested
>> the use of other IM frameworks but IBus in Ubuntu GNOME is.)
>>
>> 3. Go back to IBus as the default IM framework for all languages.
>
> IMHO, 3 is better. It is hard to support/use Fcitx for GNOME Shell.
>
> Because:
>
> 1. g-c-c (and g-s-d) does not support Fcitx as Gunnar says.
> 2. Fcitx does not support GNOME Shell's status area icon. It must be by
> design.
> 3. Input Method Panel extension[^1] is good extension for Fcitx and GNOME
> Shell, but it does not support to show Hankaku/Zenkaku mode on Japanese
>    language. It is hard to use.
> 4. Current Fcitx does not support Wayland as Joakim says.
> 5. gnome-initial-setup does not support Fcitx.
>
> [^1]: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/261/kimpanel/
>

IMHO option 3 would be something rollback, but saves manpower to work
on items. If we want decent features, I'd recommend we go either
Option 1 or 2.

Previously, GNOME upstream said to want only one input method
framework as officially recommended, and they have chosen IBus because
that's the only known thing to them (RH internally as well as other
sources, especially for different xkb layouts).

As for Chinese, most users are running fcitx, and some of them running
sogoupinyin (which is based on fcitx), IBus does not have essential
features like decent skin theming support which is a must in modern
input user experience.

In the above problems the only weakness would be Wayland support. It's
not hard to get it working but there's difference in opinions on the
design between Wayland and Fcitx developers, which they have discussed
quite a lot in Wayland mailing list.

Regards,
Aron