ibus-avro possibly a Debian/Ubuntu package soon etc.

Hi!

Would like to mention that I’m trying to get ibus-avro into the official Debian/Ubuntu archives. It’s currently in Debian’s NEW queue, and we are waiting for a decision by someone from the FTPMasters team:

https://ftp-master.debian.org/new/ibus-avro_1.0+git20170418-1.html

If approved my plan is to backport ibus-avro to Ubuntu 19.04, 18.04 and 16.04.

When preparing the package we identified an issue when Avro Phonetic is used on GNOME desktops on Xorg, which includes Ubuntu on Xorg (the default environment in 18.04 and 19.04). Advice how to deal with the issue will be provided to the users in a README.Debian file, and an extract from a draft of that file follows:

Heads-up for GNOME on Xorg (including Ubuntu on Xorg)
-----------------------------------------------------
Avro Phonetic is configured to use the English (US) keyboard layout.
If you have some other XKB layout but the basic English (US) layout
among the available input sources, it must not be the first source in
the list in a GNOME on Xorg session. If it is, using Avro Phonetic
will result in the latin letters being inputted instead of the
transliterated Bangla characters.

The simple advice is: Either Avro Phonetic or English (US) should be
the first source.

    An example:

    If the only input source you were using before installing ibus-avro
    was "English (UK)", and you add "Bangla (Avro Phonetic)", you may
    see this list of input sources in Settings -> Region & Language:

    * English (UK)
    * Bangla (Avro Phonetic)

    That won't work, and the simplest way to fix it in this case is to
    move "Bangla (Avro Phonetic)" to the top so the "Input Sources"
    list looks like this:

    * Bangla (Avro Phonetic)
    * English (UK)

Please note that US layout variants, e.g. "English (US, intl., with
dead keys)", do not qualify as "English (US)" in this respect. So if
you are using such a layout, the equivalent advice as for "English
(UK)" applies.

The GNOME on Xorg issue is present irrespective of how Avro Phonetic was installed, and the above extract may be what’s needed to fix it for some users who have reported issues, for instance #123 and #124.

While the application to include ibus-avro officially in Debian/Ubuntu is being processed, I’m also making it available in this PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj/+archive/ubuntu/avro

[gunnarhj]

ibus-avro is now an official package in both Debian and Ubuntu. In Debian it’s only in sid/unstable so far, but in a few days it will probably be migrated to bullseye/testing. In Ubuntu it’s available in all the supported versions (16.04, 18.04, 19.04) as well as the current development version.

So on Ubuntu or Debian sid, to install ibus-avro:

sudo apt install ibus-avro

On Ubuntu 19.10 you can find and install ibus-avro via Ubuntu Software (i.e. Ubuntu’s variant of GNOME Software).

I don’t know yet to which extent this GUI way will work in the supported Ubuntu releases. Possibly the fact that they are in the backports pockets there is a problem. Time will tell. But to the extent it works, it’s kind of cool that the users can install and enable the input method without a need to open a terminal window.

There are some minor things I’d like to bring up for discussion as a follow-up of this, but I will do so later in a separate issue.

However, before closing this issue, there is one important thing left: The users of APT based Linux systems should be informed somehow. The first thing in my mind is that the README.md file should probably be updated to reflect the presence of ibus-avro in Debian/Ubuntu. Users on those systems should no longer need to struggle with dependencies and building from the git repo.

OmicronLab’s Linux pages need a big overhaul too, of course.

It would also be good if @maateen could start to redirect his avro project at GitHub to this project. The .deb files he prepared and makes available were indeed useful previously, and have most certainly contributed to spread ibus-avro to a wider audience. However, since maateen’s avro project is in read-only mode, while a couple of new issues showed up, those .deb files may now contradict the purpose.

Those are my thoughts for now. I take it that you who are native speakers have other ideas how to spread the word to current and potential Linux users.

[sarim]

v1.1 is released