"IBus daemon is not started" message unhelpful

I can definitely confirm this one! This is overall a very confusing menu entry, I wonder if it really needs to exist in System -> Preferences.

I reached this bug by googling to find out what the ibus daemon and preferences are.

IBus is input platform, which can make many languages be used natively, and Ubuntu is shipping it in CD by default, so this is definitely needed to be in preference.

ZhengPeng Hou: this bug report is regarding; that if IBus is installed by default, it should "just work" by default---it should not ask a user (or even a developer!) about things they do not understand.

I agree ... more explanation needs to be given for top-level items.

Who needs ibus?
What resources does it take?
Does it start when booting?
How to stop it from the GUI.
etc.

Same thing on Lucid. Actually, I wondered about ibus daemon because I got the following message in the terminal when using a Qt4 app (qbittorrent):

Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon

I don't think ibus daemon is mandatory but this warning message makes it looks like there is a problem. This can be misleading.

The menu item should not even read "iBus Preferences", because a) all items in the "Preferences" menu are preferences, but none has the word "preferences" in it's name and b) of course as mentioned above it seems nobody (besides it's devs) knows what iBus is.

This bug should really be a papercut.

The word "Preferences" should not be used for items the preferences menu.

What exactly is the iBus option for? Only for language switching?

I have the same message error when i launch Kate from Konsole (running Lucid rc), and i do not know where to start that daemon (persistently if possible) nor where to find that preference setting... Can someone help me on that please?

Thanks in advance!

To address the dialogue confusion , the preferences option also needs to be renamed:

1: "IBus Preferences" -> "Keyboard Language" [note the word "preferences" should not be used for items in the System>Preferences menu]

2: "IBus daemon is not started. Do you want to start it now?" ->
"Keyboard Language Daemon (IBus daemon) has not been started. Do you want to start it now? "

We dont want the user to wonder why ibus is listed in the running processes , but want the dialogue to be clear it is about keyboard language preferences.

Hi Vish,

>1: "IBus Preferences" -> "Keyboard Language" [note the word "preferences" should not be used for items in the System>Preferences menu]

That sounds a lot like this would be the place to change between the keyboard layout eg Qwerty and Azerty keyboards, but for that you want "Keyboard". Perhaps "Keyboard Input Methods" would be better. (Eventually perhaps this should merge into the main Keyboard control panel.)

> 2: "IBus daemon is not started. Do you want to start it now?" -> "Keyboard Language Daemon (IBus daemon) has not been started. Do you want to start it now? "

I think the style guide says to avoid the word 'daemon', so we could say "Advanced input method support (IBus daemon) is not started..." or something.

Martin Pool wrote:
> That sounds a lot like this would be the place to change between the
> keyboard layout eg Qwerty and Azerty keyboards, but for that you want
> "Keyboard". Perhaps "Keyboard Input Methods" would be better.
> (Eventually perhaps this should merge into the main Keyboard control
> panel.)

I dont think layouts would be confused here.
Merging it is the best solution , My main concern is there is no mention of "language" selection

I dont use the applet and never have , but from me prodding around all i can see is that it only allows changing the input language. [I may be mistaken ;) ]

However , since the word "input method" is used in the preferences window. "Keyboard input methods" sounds the easiest choice.
Any clue why it is called input *method* and not "Input language" ?

A preference named "Keyboard Input Language" would be more easily recognizable. [if the only purpose was language switching]

>
> I think the style guide says to avoid the word 'daemon', so we could say
> "Advanced input method support (IBus daemon) is not started..." or
> something.

"Advanced" can be dropped. and just "Input method support (IBus daemon) has not been started. Do you want to start it now? "

It's called "input method" because this is a term of art for the software that lets people type characters that require multiple key-presses. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_method> It has a much narrower purpose than "input languages".

"Keyboard Input Methods" would be fine as a menu item, I think.

Oops forgot about this bug , splitting the bug as per chat with mpt a while ago. This bug is only about the message.

mpt, I'v read the wikipedia page too earlier and had done an informal user testing of the name with 2 people who dont use Ubuntu and neither could recognize the function without digging deeper into the options in the tab.
Before exploring the "input method" tab one replied it was "option for onscreen keyboard" while the other just gave up trying to guess what it meant.

On the plus side, Both were *very* surprised that the language input could be done in Ubuntu by default though ;-)

Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> It's called "input method" because this is a term of art for the software that lets people type characters that require multiple >key-presses

mpt, For a min there you sounded like a hacker trying to explain ;)
What about "Match between system and the real world" :) [ http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html ]

Unfortunately the problem still exists. Is it really a problem to start the ibus-daemon per default every time the computer boots?

On 07/02/2010 07:26 PM, Gromobir wrote:
> Unfortunately the problem still exists. Is it really a problem to start
> the ibus-daemon per default every time the computer boots?

No, it's not a problem, you just need to enable that in System ->
Administration -> Language Support.
However, we don't enable it for everyone, since IBus grabs the
Ctrl+Space sequence and epecially Emacs users are very unhappy with that.

I intend to fix this bug as soon as I return from holiday on monday,
please be patient! ^_^

On 7/2/10, Arne Goetje <email address hidden> wrote:
> On 07/02/2010 07:26 PM, Gromobir wrote:
>> Unfortunately the problem still exists. Is it really a problem to start
>> the ibus-daemon per default every time the computer boots?
>
> No, it's not a problem, you just need to enable that in System ->
> Administration -> Language Support.
> However, we don't enable it for everyone, since IBus grabs the
> Ctrl+Space sequence and epecially Emacs users are very unhappy with that.
>
> --
> "IBus daemon is not started" message unhelpful
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/423525
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts: Triaged
> Status in “ibus” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: ibus
>
> Karmic recently(?) added an "iBus Preferences" item to the Preferences menu.
> If you click it, you get a dialog saying "IBus daemon is not started. Do
> you want to start it now?". How is a user supposed to know if they want to
> or not, when there's no explanation what an IBus daemon is?
>
> ---
> This bug is only about the message when Ibus was *not* started.
> ---
> Rename Menu item Ibus preferences to "Keyboard Input Methods" > Bug #596058
> "IBus has been started!" message is incorrect and geeky > Bug #485174
>
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> Date: Thu Sep 3 15:09:10 2009
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> Package: ibus 1.2.0.20090723-1
> ProcEnviron:
>  PATH=(custom, user)
>  LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
>  SHELL=/bin/zsh
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.30-9.10-generic
> SourcePackage: ibus
> Uname: Linux 2.6.30-9-generic i686
>
>
>
>
>

--
Sent from my mobile device

> I intend to fix this bug as soon as I return from holiday on monday,
> please be patient! ^_^
Ok, I´ll be patient. I know it is not such a big problem but it would really please my eyes to see that I don't have to switch to Ibus manually on all the computers I set up. ;-)
Thanks for fixing this!

On 07/08/2010 06:22 PM, Gromobir wrote:
> Ok, I´ll be patient. I know it is not such a big problem but it would really please my eyes to see that I don't have to switch to Ibus manually on all the computers I set up. ;-)
> Thanks for fixing this!

Please note, that this bug report is only about improving the message
being displayed. It's not about starting IBus by default for everyone.
If a user wants to use IBus, he still needs to enable IBus in System ->
Administration -> Language Settings.

Hum... ok

> However, we don't enable it for everyone, since IBus grabs the
> Ctrl+Space sequence and epecially Emacs users are very unhappy with that.
What about changing the sequence?

On 07/09/2010 04:19 PM, Gromobir wrote:
> Hum... ok
>
>> However, we don't enable it for everyone, since IBus grabs the
>> Ctrl+Space sequence and epecially Emacs users are very unhappy with that.
> What about changing the sequence?

Not an option, since this is the expected sequence for Chinese users and
has been the default sequence ever since input method frameworks existed.

What about making the sequence a settable option, defaulting to ctl+space?

On 07/13/2010 10:26 PM, Bill Michaelson wrote:
> What about making the sequence a settable option, defaulting to
> ctl+space?

This exists already in the IBus Preferences dialog. User can adjust the
key sequence to their liking.

I totally agree that this message is useless. iBus deamon should just be started by default instead, as the user express an interest in "Keyboard Input Methods" by clicking on its launcher.
Later, the user has the possibility to close iBus via the Notification zone.

Ctrl-Space is the common sequence for billions of computer users all around the world (Chinese, Japanese and so on..) to write their native langage. Ubuntu won't try to change the habit of billions of people just because of Emacs users ! (who are advanced users, so skilled enough to change their sequence preferences if they need). So iBus should definitely keep the Ctrl-Space sequence by default.

This was fixed in ibus (1.2.0.20091215-1ubuntu5) maverick

When trying to start kmix (and not succeeding), I got this:

QMetaObject::invokeMethod: No such method KMixApp::loadCommandLineOptionsForNewInstance()
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/pwa/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon

It looks as though ibus might have some significance. Or this might just be a kmix problem -- dunno.

I also get the same problem starting kate and kdebugdialog from the konsole on Kubuntu Maverick amd64:

~$ kate test &
[2] 10780
me@pc:~$ QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/me/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon

I see the same problem launching System Settings from the konsole on Kubuntu Maverick amd64:

~$ systemsettings
systemsettings(10067) CategoryList::updatePixmap: "Common Appearance and Behavior" "settings-application-appearance-and-behavior.desktop" "kcm:/settings-application-appearance-and-behavior.desktop"
systemsettings(10067) CategoryList::updatePixmap: "Workspace Appearance and Behavior" "settings-workspace-appearance-and-behavior.desktop" "kcm:/settings-workspace-appearance-and-behavior.desktop"
systemsettings(10067) CategoryList::updatePixmap: "Network and Connectivity" "settings-network-and-connectivity.desktop" "kcm:/settings-network-and-connectivity.desktop"
systemsettings(10067) CategoryList::updatePixmap: "Hardware" "settings-hardware.desktop" "kcm:/settings-hardware.desktop"
systemsettings(10067) CategoryList::updatePixmap: "System Administration" "settings-system-administration.desktop" "kcm:/settings-system-administration.desktop"
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/username/.config/ibus/bus
Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon
QMetaObject::invokeMethod: No such method SystemSettingsApp::loadCommandLineOptionsForNewInstance()

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