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Fcitx5 macOS

Fcitx5 input method framework ported to macOS.

Please download installer and read documentation.

Build

While the App runs on macOS >= 13.3, native build on macOS >= 15 is supported.

This is NOT an Xcode project, but Xcode >= 26 is needed for Swift compiler.

Install dependencies

You may use nvm to install node, then

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
brew install cmake ninja extra-cmake-modules gettext librsvg
./scripts/install-deps.sh
npm i -g pnpm
pnpm --prefix=fcitx5-webview i

Build with CMake

git apply --directory=fcitx5 patches/*
cmake -B build/$(uname -m) -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build/$(uname -m)
sudo cmake --install build/$(uname -m)

After the first time you execute cmake --install, you need to logout and login, then add Fcitx5 in System Setttings -> Keyboard -> Input Sources, Chinese Simplified.

For installations afterwards, clicking Restart in Fcitx5 menu suffices.

You can also use Cmd+Shift+B in VSCode to execute a task.

Code sign

Some features (e.g. notifications, core dump) require the app bundle be code-signed after installation:

./scripts/code-sign.sh

Debug

Console.app

• Check Include Info Messages and Include Debug Messages in Action menu.
• Put FcitxLog in Search.

Log

/tmp/Fcitx5.log contains all log in Console.app, plus those written to stderr by engines, e.g. rime.

lldb

SSH into the mac from another device, then

$ /usr/bin/lldb
(lldb) process attach --name Fcitx5

Core dump

sudo chmod 1777 /cores
sudo sysctl kern.coredump=1
ulimit -c unlimited  # only works for current shell
pkill Fcitx5; /Library/Input\ Methods/Fcitx5.app/Contents/MacOS/Fcitx5

When Fcitx5 crashes, it creates a ~10GB core file under /cores.

/usr/bin/lldb -c /cores/core.XXXX
(lldb) bt

Plugins

Fcitx5 only packages keyboard engine. To install other engines or tables, use the built-in Plugin Manager.

Translation

Swift sources

To update .strings files for each supported locale, run

cmake --build build/$(uname -m) --target GenerateStrings

This will, e.g., update assets/zh-Hans/Localizable.strings, and then the translator can work on it.

C++ sources

First, create assets/po/base.pot file:

cmake --build build/$(uname -m) --target pot

To add a new language, do

cd po && msginit -l <locale>

Then, use a PO file editor to translate strings.

Finally, to merge new strings into PO files, do

cd po && msgmerge -U <locale>.po base.pot

Credits

• fcitx5: LGPL-2.1-or-later
• fcitx5-android: LGPL-2.1-or-later
• swift-cmake-examples: Apache-2.0
• AlertToast: MIT
• Linux: GPL-2.0-only WITH Linux-syscall-note
• webview: MIT