# strans

A small input method daemon for Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, emoji, and
symbols on X11 and Wayland. Inspired by 9front's ktrans.

## Build

The recommended build needs only Docker and Make on the host:

```sh
make docker
```

This creates an Arch Linux build image, compiles all runtime components in one
disposable container, and writes three artifacts into the source tree:

```text
strans              daemon, IBus and Wayland frontend
xim/strans-xim      XIM frontend
gtk/im-strans.so    GTK 3 frontend
```

The build starts clean so host and container object files are never mixed. It
removes existing build and test outputs; the `strans-build` dependency image is
kept as a cache. No development packages are required on the host.

Void Linux runtime dependencies:

```sh
sudo xbps-install -S dbus-libs wayland libxkbcommon libxcb xcb-imdkit gtk+3
```

For a native Arch Linux build, use `Dockerfile` as the dependency and Plan 9
setup checklist, then run `make`. Build the benchmark separately with
`make bench`.

## Run

Start the daemon:

```sh
./strans map font &
```

For XIM applications:

```sh
./xim/strans-xim &
export XMODIFIERS=@im=strans
xterm
```

For GTK 3 applications:

```sh
sudo make -C gtk install
GTK_IM_MODULE=strans gedit
```

For IBus clients such as kitty:

```sh
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty
```

Wayland needs no environment variable. Start `strans` after a wlroots
compositor that supports input-method-v2. Neither ibus-daemon nor fcitx is
required.

## Keys

Input modes are selected with Ctrl and one letter:

```text
Ctrl+N  Hiragana
Ctrl+K  Katakana
Ctrl+S  Hangul
Ctrl+T  English
Ctrl+V  Vietnamese Telex
Ctrl+E  Emoji and symbol search
Ctrl+P  Toggle popup preedit
```

Use `1`-`9` or the arrow keys to select a candidate. Tab moves through
candidates, Enter commits, and Escape cancels.

Emoji search is temporary and returns to the previous input mode:

```text
Ctrl+E → smile → Enter → 😀
```

## Tests

Tests use the sibling `cutest` repository as a submodule. Its relative URL
expects repository mirrors and forks to provide the same sibling. Initialize
it once, then run the checks in the build container:

```sh
git submodule update --init
make docker-check
```

The native `make check` command needs plan9port and Python 3, but not the GUI
development packages. Use `make test TESTARGS=hangul` or
`make docker-check TESTARGS=hangul` to filter unit tests. After editing
`map/emoji.src`, regenerate and verify the dictionary with:

```sh
map/mkemoji > map/emoji.dict
make verify-map
```

## Design

`strans` owns the input engine and candidate window. The XIM and GTK frontends
forward keys to it over a Unix socket; the IBus and Wayland frontends are built
into the daemon. Internal threads communicate through CSP channels.