IBus, standing (vaguely) for "Intelligent Input Bus", is an input
framework that allows users to, for example, switch between different keyboard
layouts, which any non-English native speakers reading this blog would certainly
be familiar with.
It is notably used by default by GNOME-based desktop environments, making it
the de facto standard for many Linux users; however, it has been somewhat
finicky for me (and others) when working with Wayland1—which is where
fcitx52 comes in.
But fcitx5 is a lot other than "Wayland's IBus": just as vaguely, it
stands for "Flexible Context-aware Input Tool with eXtension support", and in
this series, I mean to delve deeply into the most practical and ubiquitous of
its built-in modules.
Enter Unicode characters with fcitx5
Reclaim the em-dash from the LLMs—or spell my name as my parents intended
System-wide clipboard history with fcitx5
Beyond the obvious, fcitx5 also satisfies their sharper users' expectations in handling sensitive data
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Although "applications being finicky" under Wayland will come at no surprise to anyone, I will note that it mostly has to do with running a lot of
X11applications actually through a compatibility layer, andNVIDIAnotoriously having been an execrable collaborator in helping the Linux kernel developers integrate their hardware into the ecosystem. ↩ -
fcitx5is a fairly recent project (started around 2019) led by the same original author, a complete rewrite of its predecessor, infusing new life intofcitxnotably in including first-class Wayland support, a vastly more modern codebase, greater performance (reportedly), and some unified theming and configuration tools. ↩