strans
An input method daemon for CJK text entry on X11 and Wayland.
Inspired by 9front's ktrans. Threads communicate via CSP channels.
Dependencies
- plan9port
- dbus-1
- wayland-client, libxkbcommon (for Wayland support)
- gtk+-3.0 (optional, for GTK IM module)
Build
make
cd xim && make # XIM adapter
cd gtk && make docker && make install # GTK IM module
Run
./strans map font &
For XIM apps:
./xim/strans-xim &
XMODIFIERS=@im=strans xterm
For GTK apps:
GTK_IM_MODULE=strans gedit
For IBus apps (kitty, foot, etc.):
GLFW_IM_MODULE=ibus kitty
For Wayland apps (text-input-v3 clients on wlroots compositors):
# nothing to set; the compositor relays text-input-v3 to strans
Strans itself is the IBus endpoint and the Wayland input-method-v2 client; no ibus-daemon or fcitx5 needed. Start strans after the compositor.
Usage
Switch input modes with Ctrl + key:
N Hiragana
K Katakana
S Hangul
T English
V Vietnamese (Telex)
E Emoji
P Toggle preedit/candidate popup window
Type romanized input. Select candidates with 1-9 or arrow keys. Tab or Enter to commit.
Architecture
Threads communicate via CSP channels:
- imthread: keystroke processing, transliteration
- dictthread: dictionary lookup
- drawthread: preedit window rendering
- srvthread: IPC via unix socket
- ibusthread: IBus D-Bus endpoint for GLFW/kitty
- waylandthread: Wayland input-method-v2 + virtual-keyboard-v1
Adapters (strans-xim, im-strans.so) bridge X11/GTK events.
Files
strans.c input method engine
dict.c dictionary queries
win.c xcb window management
font.c truetype rendering (stb_truetype)
wayland.c wayland input-method-v2 adapter
map/ transliteration tables
font/ bundled CJK fonts
input-method-unstable-v2-*.{c,h} wayland-scanner output, vendored
virtual-keyboard-unstable-v1-*.{c,h}
The two Wayland protocols (input-method-v2, virtual-keyboard-v1) are wlroots-only and not in the upstream wayland-protocols package, so the generated client code is vendored. Regenerate with wayland-scanner if the XML upstream ever changes (it hasn't in years).