Related articles * [IBus](/index.php/IBus "IBus") * [Fcitx](/index.php/Fcitx "Fcitx") * [UIM](/index.php/UIM "UIM") [SCIM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Common_Input_Method "wikipedia:Smart Common Input Method") is an input method framework developed by Su Zhe (or James Su) around 2001, similar to [IBus](/index.php/IBus "IBus") or [UIM](/index.php/UIM "UIM"). Its stated goals are to: * Act as an unified front-end for current available input method libraries. Currently bindings to [UIM](/index.php/UIM "UIM") and [m17n](http://www.m17n.org/m17n-lib-en/) library are available. * Act as a language engine of [IIIMF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet/Intranet_Input_Method_Framework "wikipedia:Internet/Intranet Input Method Framework") input method framework. * Provide as many native [IMEngines](http://www.scim-im.org/projects/imengines) as possible. * Support as many input method protocols/interfaces as possible. * Support as many operating systems as possible. Nowadays, SCIM is also: * Highly modularized. * Very flexible in its architecture, it can be used as a dynamically loaded library as well as a C/S input method environment. * Simple from a programming interface perspective. * Fully i18n enabled with support for UCS-4/UTF-8 encoding. * Easy to configure through its unified configuration framework. ## Contents * [1 Installing SCIM](#Installing_SCIM) * [1.1 Installing Input Method Engines](#Installing_Input_Method_Engines) * [2 Configure SCIM](#Configure_SCIM) * [2.1 A simple scenario](#A_simple_scenario) * [2.2 Note for GTK+](#Note_for_GTK.2B) * [2.2.1 Note for GNOME, Xfce, LXDE](#Note_for_GNOME.2C_Xfce.2C_LXDE) * [2.2.2 Note for KDE3](#Note_for_KDE3) * [2.3 Locale-related files](#Locale-related_files) * [2.3.1 Further troubleshooting with locales](#Further_troubleshooting_with_locales) * [2.4 Executing SCIM](#Executing_SCIM) * [2.4.1 Note for GNOME](#Note_for_GNOME) * [2.4.2 Note for KDE](#Note_for_KDE) * [3 Bugs](#Bugs) * [3.1 LWJGL (Lightweight Java Game Library) losing keyboard focus](#LWJGL_.28Lightweight_Java_Game_Library.29_losing_keyboard_focus) * [3.2 Chrome/Chromium doesn't take input](#Chrome.2FChromium_doesn.27t_take_input) * [4 Links](#Links) ## Installing SCIM SCIM can be [installed](/index.php/Pacman "Pacman") with the package [scim](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim). ### Installing Input Method Engines Currently the SCIM project has a wide range of input methods (some may need other libraries), covering more than 30 languages, including (Simplified/Traditional) Chinese, Japanese, Korean and many European languages. These are some of the examples (more can be found [here](http://www.scim-im.org/projects/imengines)): * **Chinese Smart PinYin**: [scim-pinyin](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim-pinyin). * **Chinese WuBi or other tables based**: [scim-tables](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim-tables). * **Japanese**: [scim-anthy](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim-anthy). * **Korean**: [scim-hangul](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=scim-hangul) ## Configure SCIM Configuring SCIM correctly requires the following three steps: 1. Exporting some environment variables that specify the used input method. 2. Modifying locale related files. 3. Finally, starting SCIM. ### A simple scenario If you just need SCIM to work urgently in any Desktop Environment or Window Manager, put these lines into `/etc/xprofile` or `~/.xprofile` and then reboot: `~/.xprofile` ``` export XMODIFIERS=@im=SCIM export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim" export QT_IM_MODULE="scim" scim -d ``` These lines can be added to other files that are run at startup, such as: `/etc/profile`, `~/.profile`, `~/.xinitrc` or `~/.config/openbox/autostart` (when using [Openbox](/index.php/Openbox "Openbox")). **Note:** The first environment variable conflicts with some (unusual) options like `XMODIFIERS=urxvt`. This is a very basic example for configuring XIM (X Input Method) to work with SCIM. XIM is not recommended because it has quite some limitations. ### Note for GTK+ If you use [GNOME](/index.php/GNOME "GNOME"), edit `/etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules` by adding follow content at the end: `/etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules` ``` "/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/immodules/im-scim.so" "scim" "SCIM Input Method" "scim" "/usr/share/locale" "ja:ko:zh" ``` If your `LC_CTYPE` or `LANG` is *en_US.UTF-8*, change `ja:ko:zh` to `en:ja:ko:zh`. After making those changes, be sure to reboot. You can find out what input method modules are available on your system by executing `gtk-query-immodules-2.0`. If SCIM does not work with GTK+ applications after these changes, check that the GTK_IM_MODULE_FILE environment variable is set to `/etc/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules`. You can use another file (in this example `~/.immodules`) that contains the necessary information about input methods modules by adding these lines in the file you selected in the [section above](#A_simple_scenario). ``` gtk-query-immodules-2.0 > ~/.immodules export GTK_IM_MODULE_FILE=~/.immodules ``` #### Note for GNOME, Xfce, LXDE If you are using GNOME, Xfce or LXDE and Qt applications do not pick up the `export QT_IM_MODULE="scim"` variable, you can use scim-bridge. To use *scim-bridge* instead, export the following: ``` export QT_IM_MODULE="scim-bridge" ``` #### Note for KDE3 For KDE3 you should `export QT_IM_MODULE="xim"` instead of *scim* and also install [qtimm](http://www.scim-im.org/projects/scim_qtimm)] for Qt3. ### Locale-related files If your keyboard locale is not `en_US.UTF-8` (or `en_US.utf8`), you have to modify the first line of `~/.scim/global` (or `/etc/scim/global` to apply these settings to all users) according to the following example: ``` /SupportedUnicodeLocales = en_US.UTF-8,de_CH.UTF-8 ``` and replace your `de_CH.UTF-8` with your locale. **Note:** Your locale has to be active (i.e. you have to uncomment it in `/etc/locale-gen` and then execute `locale-gen` as root) *and* has to be supported by SCIM (most *.UTF-8 locales are). If you do not know which locales you have active at the moment, you can check it: ``` locale -a ``` (alternatively you can look at `/etc/locale.gen`). #### Further troubleshooting with locales If after you have install SCIM and the necessary input tables, SCIM still does not work, then you need to set the `LC_CTYPE` environmental variable in `/etc/profile` to the locale you plan to use. Simply create an entry for LC_CTYPE such as: ``` LC_CTYPE="zh_CN.UTF-8" # if you want to type simplified chinese ``` Finally you need to generate the locale using the `locale-gen` command. ### Executing SCIM SCIM can be run by just executing the `scim` command, although it is common to start SCIM as a daemon: ``` scim -d ``` You can put the above command in a script file and execute it automatically. Usual places are `~/.xinitrc` (after environment variables and before DE/WM), `/etc/profile` (after environment variables) or `~/.config/openbox/autostart` (after environment variables and possibly after some sleep command). #### Note for GNOME In case you use GNOME as your desktop environment, the command above does not seem to work as expected. Instead, you have to execute the following: ``` scim -f x11 -c simple -d ``` If you want SCIM to start automatically at startup, go to System > Preferences > Session and create a new command with the line above. **Note:** If you use the line `scim -f socket -c socket -d` instead, the configuration of your SCIM will be unmodifiable. #### Note for KDE In case you use KDE as a desktop environment, the command above does not seem to work as expected. Instead, you have to execute the following: ``` scim -f socket -c socket -d ``` ## Bugs ### LWJGL (Lightweight Java Game Library) losing keyboard focus See [these](http://www.scim-im.org/forums#nabble-td2499750) [two](http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1641861) forum posts for a solution. ### Chrome/Chromium doesn't take input Edit the .xinitrc or .xsession file. `~/.xprofile` ``` export XMODIFIERS=@im=SCIM export GTK_IM_MODULE="xim" export QT_IM_MODULE="scim" scim -d ``` This is a rather sloppy workaround. Also, even with this workaround, Korean users may find scim unusable with Chrome/Chromium, as the preedit string disappears when the space bar or other modifier keys are pressed at the end of a word. ## Links * [See the official news page for more details](https://www.archlinux.org/news/166/).