Re: Japanese input in Linux environment (fcitx-mozc)

[<tomas@tuxteam.de>]

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On Wed, Jun 07, 2017 at 10:02:06AM +0200, Héctor Lahoz wrote:
> Hi. Perhaps this should be a reply to the first mail but I lost it.
> Sorry.
> 
> Just some thoughts about this. This is a very common problem. I wish I
> could offer some specific solution but I can't since I don't write
> Japanese. But I do write Spanish, English, German and occasionally
> Greek and Cyrillic.
> 
> This task, change input between different languages, is not Emacs
> specific. Emacs is not the only application in the world and probably
> other applications will need this too. As I said it is a very common
> task. So it should not be provided by Emacs itself but by some
> underlying system, be it GTK, X11, or even the operating system.
> 
> Emacs should just communicate with that underlying system
> and use its services.
> 
> So I think the right direction is to look at the X input method
> architecture. It seems there are some newer solutions like IBus or
> SCIM. I can't tell how or up to what extent Emacs uses any of these.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Input_Method

Been there. It's more complicated. Yes, there are upsides to delegating
to X (and when I can, I truly do): entering stuff in a terminal or
a browser works the same than entering stuff in Emacs.

There are downsides too: Emacs input methods are much more flexible,
diverse and easier to set up.

Personally, I try to strong-arm X into doing my thing. That said,
I'm using pretty "plain" X, which is uncommon these days. I never
managed to completely figure out how those things are supposed
to work on more mainstream desktop environments (I support a couple
of Gnome installations). Perhaps I'd be less successful on those.

To sum up: for things I use semi-frequently, I go to the extra
length of "unified" configuration (i.e. outside of Emacs). For
very occasional things, it's Emacs input methods (much easier
to set up).

Sometimes (I started with greek a short while ago), I start with
Emacs, as a pioneer, and then try to rework my setup into a more
unified thing (e.g. setting up a second group by toggling via
double shift).

As for the compose key... for me, it's a boon, but I'd never
recommend it for often-used chars (I type much of German and
am grateful the umlauts got their keys, for example).

Emacs, of course, plays along with everything and then more.
Can't say how grateful I am for *that*

Cheers
- -- tomás
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