scim

Start SC-IM

$ scim [path/to/file.csv]

$ [<<>|<>>]

$ <=>

$ <E>

$ <e>

$ <|>

scim [options]

-d, --daemon
    Runs scim in daemon mode, allowing it to provide input method services to applications. This is its most common operational mode and is typically how it's used within a desktop environment.

-h, --help
    Displays a brief help message outlining the available command-line options for scim.

-v, --version
    Shows the version information of the scim platform, including its release number.

-x , --xim-protocol=
    Specifies the XIM protocol to use (e.g., 'xim', 'xim-sync'). This option is less commonly used by end-users directly, as the default is usually sufficient.

The scim command refers to the Smart Common Input Method platform, a framework designed to provide a unified input method interface for various languages, especially those with complex character sets like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It acts as a bridge between applications and different input method engines, allowing users to type non-ASCII characters using their keyboard.

scim primarily runs as a daemon in the background, intercepting keyboard input and converting it based on the selected input method engine (e.g., Pinyin for Chinese, Anthy for Japanese). It interacts with applications primarily through the X Input Method (XIM) protocol, making it a crucial component for internationalization on X Window System-based desktop environments. While once a predominant solution for inputting complex scripts, its role has largely been taken over by more modern input method frameworks.

scim is largely considered deprecated in modern Linux distributions. It has been superseded by newer, more actively developed input method frameworks such as IBus (Intelligent Input Bus) and Fcitx (Flexible Input Method Framework). Users on contemporary systems are unlikely to find scim pre-installed or supported by default, and should instead look towards IBus or Fcitx for their multilingual input needs, especially concerning Wayland support.

The behavior of scim and how applications interact with input methods is often influenced by environment variables, most notably XMODIFIERS.

For scim to function correctly, XMODIFIERS should typically be set to @im=SCIM or @im=SCIM. (with a trailing dot) to instruct X applications to use SCIM as their input method server. This setting is usually managed by desktop environment startup scripts or tools like im-config rather than directly by the user.

SCIM (Smart Common Input Method) was developed in the early 2000s as a powerful and flexible input method platform for Linux and other Unix-like systems, aiming to unify various language input methods under a single framework. It quickly gained widespread adoption, particularly for East Asian language support, becoming a standard component in many distributions due to its modular design which allowed for easy integration of new input engines.

However, starting in the late 2000s and early 2010s, newer projects like IBus and Fcitx emerged. These frameworks offered improved architectures, better integration with modern desktop environments (like GNOME and KDE), and addressed some of SCIM's limitations (e.g., performance, initial lack of Wayland support). Consequently, SCIM's development became less active, and it was gradually replaced as the default input method in most major Linux distributions, although it can still be manually installed on some systems.

ibus(1), fcitx(1), im-config(1), locale(7)