Kassadin.moe
中文 ZH English EN 日本語 JA

Note: Set Up ibus-rime Chinese Input Method

Published on

Original language: Chinese . AI translations: English , Japanese .

iBus-rime initial setup

In 2023 I switched to Fcitx.

Autostart iBus and keep it in the background

After installing the rime input method on Linux, you need iBus support.
But after a bunch of settings in iBus, once I closed the window, iBus just exited…

Checked the docs: iBus Initial setup - Archlinux

Append to the end of ~/.bashrc:

Terminal window
# iBus always on
export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
ibus-daemon -drx

The method above worked in a VM, but didn’t work on my laptop.

Still from the docs: create ~/.xprofile and add:

Terminal window
# iBus always on
export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
ibus-daemon -drx

Full install process

Terminal window
# install plum : https://github.com/rime/plum
curl -fsSL https://git.io/rime-install | bash


# install double-pinyin
cd plum
bash rime-install double-pinyin


# install ibus-rime
pacman -S ibus-rime


# modify home/user/.config/ibus/rime/default.yaml, add double-pinyin schema


# create home/user/.xprofile, add following commands
# iBus always on
export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
ibus-daemon -drx


# log out, and log in

2020/03/08 update

Installed again and optimized the steps a bit:

Terminal window
# install plum bash: https://github.com/rime/plum
git clone https://github.com/rime/plum.git


# install double-pinyin
cd plum
bash rime-install double-pinyin


# install ibus-rime
pacman -S ibus-rime


# modify ~/.config/ibus/rime/build/default.yaml
# add double-pinyin to `schema_list`


# create ~/.xprofile, add following
# iBus always on
export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
ibus-daemon -drx


# log out, and log in
# iBus will autostart

Changes:

  • Use git clone to download plum. The original one-liner runs the script directly and installs a bunch of input schemas I don’t need.
  • The path of rime default.yaml changed; contents seem similar. Just edit it.

Pitfalls:

  • It’s best to edit rime default.yaml first, then start iBus and switch to rime input method.
  • Because when rime starts for the first time, it deploys input schemas based on default.yaml (converts .yaml schemas to .bin for faster usage).
  • If you edit the config first, deployment can finish in one go.

    I got stuck on this for 3-4 days…
    I started rime first, then after editing the config I couldn’t find where to redeploy.
    I searched online: “there’s a deploy button”, but I couldn’t find it anywhere; CLI commands didn’t help either.
    In the end I realized:
    Left-click the rime tray icon and you’ll see deploy options… (I always right-clicked, which shows iBus options.)
    I’m too noob.

Issues:

  • One issue: in terminal, rime candidate popup doesn’t appear at the cursor; it jumps around. Kinda tiring…

    2020/03/10 update
    Found it’s not just in terminal; editing Google Docs in browser also has this issue…

2020/04/12 update: start iBus via . .xprofile

Previously I always logged out and back in to load .xprofile.
Today iBus crashed and I didn’t want to log out.
Then I thought: if . .bashrc or source .bashrc can refresh the shell environment, can . .xprofile do the same?
Tried it; it works.

2020/11/28 update

manjaro-kde-20.1.2-201019-linux58 kde desktop crash when using .xprofile
edit ~/.bashrc is ok

Terminal window
# iBus always on
export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
ibus-daemon -drx

default.yaml file at /usr/share/rime-data/default.yaml

2021/02/21 update
Now there is no default.yaml under ~/.config/ibus/rime/. Docs online recommend not editing /usr/share/rime-data/default.yaml directly (because upgrades will wipe custom changes).

2021/02/21 update DIY ibus-rime

Recommended approach: add patch files under ~/.config/ibus/rime/.

  • Add double-pinyin schema
    Github - rime/rime-double-pinyin
    Download the schema you need and copy it into ~/.config/ibus/rime/. Mine is double_pinyin_flypy.schema.yaml.
    Then apply a patch:

    Terminal window
    vim ~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml
    

    # add following lines
    patch:
      schema_list:
        - schema: double_pinyin_flypy

    Redeploy and it takes effect.
    This patch overrides the default schema_list. If you need other input methods, add them in the patch too. (Be careful with YAML syntax.)

  • Make candidate menu horizontal
    After an upgrade, the horizontal layout setting in ibus stopped working. The workaround:

    Terminal window
    vim ~/.config/ibus/rime/ibus_rime.custom.yaml
    

    # add following lines
    patch:
      style:
        horizontal: true

Ref:
RIME | 中州韻輸入法引擎 幫助文檔
Rime 定製指南 - 定製方案選單
Cannot get ibus_rime.yaml to work - unable to set my style/horizontal to true
可能只适合我自己的 RIME 配置 <<< this is great

2021/05/09 update

Install ibus-mozc-ut Japanese Input Method

On Manjaro (iBus framework), to install a Japanese input method, it seems the AUR package is ibus-mozc-ut.
It took 20 minutes to build. After installation I couldn’t make it show up, wasted half an hour.
Turns out it was because I didn’t log out & log in… (sorry. I should follow tutorials and not skip the log out step
After logging in again, Japanese - Mozc shows up. Then configure Romaji Input Method, Hiragana, etc.
More IME tricks still to learn~

2022/02/20 update

Found another config with more env vars

Terminal window
# iBus always on
export INPUT_METHOD="ibus"
export XMODIFIERS="@im=ibus"
export GTK_IM_MODULE="ibus"
export QT_IM_MODULE="ibus"
export QT4_IM_MODULE="ibus"
ibus-daemon -drxR --panel=/usr/lib/kimpanel-ibus-panel

2023/05/18 update

Switching to Fcitx

After a big distro upgrade, ibus-rime broke. It would deploy for a bit then exit, taking ibus down with it.
Couldn’t fix it, so I switched to Fcitx.

Chinese input uses fcitx5-rime.
(Also installed fcitx5-mozc-ut so I can type Japanese too. The dictionary is pretty complete and suggests common words. Nice.)

For Rime config I use 雾凇拼音

If telegram-desktop can’t use Chinese input, add these env vars to ~/.xprofile:

Terminal window
export XMODIFIERS="@im=fcitx5"
export XMODIFIER="@im=fcitx5"
export GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx5
export QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx5
export DefaultIMModule=fcitx5
fcitx5 &

Ref:
Archlinux - Fcitx5
Archlinux - Rime
Cannot type Chinese in some applications