uim/Setup

Set environment variables

To use uim, you need to set a few environment variables, and optionally start some of the bridges (uim-xim, uim-fep).^[1]

In your X session initiation script (this may be ~/.xinitrc, ~/.xsession or ~/.gnomerc depending on your system), set

 export GTK_IM_MODULE='uim'  # Instructs the GTK immodule to use uim
 export QT_IM_MODULE='uim'   # Instructs the Qt immodule to use uim
 export XMODIFIERS='@im=uim' # Instructs XIM to use uim

and you should be able to use uim in all GTK+ and Qt applications.

TODO: Can UIM_CANDWIN_PROG be set in the config files?

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Select a default input method

By default, uim starts up the direct input method (that passes everything unmodified back to the application). To change this you will need to specify a default input method.

Configuration file

Put

 (define default-im-name '<im-name>)

in your ~/.uim configuration file. You can get a list of allowed <im-name>s by running

 uim-xim --list

Graphical configuration tool

Selection of a default input method in uim-pref-gtk

Run uim-pref-gtk or uim-pref-qt.
Select the "Global settings" group.
In the "Input method deployment" section, check "Specify default IM" and choose the one you want from the list.

The list includes only enabled IMs. If the the one you want isn't in the list, you may need to press the "Edit" button in by the "Enabled input methods" field in the "Input method deployment" section.

If you cannot find your favorite IM in the list of enabled input methods, please check that you have it installed.

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The XIM (X Input Method) protocol

For non-GTK/Qt applications (through the XIM protocol) run

 uim-xim &

from your X session initiation script so that you have an instance running when you enter the X windows system.

For further details, refer to uim-xim documentation.

Freedesktop.org site: http://uim.freedesktop.org/wiki/UIM_2dXIM.

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Virtual terminals

If you choose not to run uim-xim (the GTK and Qt bridges should work for most every application available in X) or need it in console, you can use the uim Front End Processor (FEP) bridge. Start it by running

 uim-fep

You will see an indicator in the bottom line of the terminal showing which input method is in use and which mode it is in.

For more, see: uim-fep

Freedesktop.org site: http://uim.freedesktop.org/wiki/UIM_2dFEP.

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Emacs

TODO: This will have to be written by an emacs man. I've never touched that beast.

For more, see: uim-el.

Freedesktop.org site: http://uim.freedesktop.org/wiki/UIM_2dEL.

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Toolbars

Uim comes with a few tools to control the active conversion engine and some of its options. These are on toolbars that you may just be able to integrate into your desktop environment.

uim-toolbar-gtk with Anthy enabled

The tools are:

uim-toolbar-gtk
uim-toolbar-gtk-systray
uim-toolbar-qt
uim-toolbar-qt4 (>= uim 1.5.7)

If you use GNOME, you should probably use the ones with "gtk" in the name, and KDE users would be advised to use the "qt" or "qt4" one. GTK+ and Qt are the widget toolkits that GNOME and KDE are written in, so this will ensure a consistent look and feel). Aside from that, the toolbars should be environment independent and you can use them regardless of which graphical environment you use.

As for now, you just have to play around with these as there is no further documentation for these (sorry).

A useful resource is the Uim-toolbar page on the Japanese Anthy/Uim wiki.

You can pass a positional argument to uim-toolbar-gtk.