Info

This guide walks through setting up the rime input method engine via ibus-rime on a GNOME desktop. We will enable two schemas — Mandarin Pinyin (luna_pinyin) and Cantonese Jyutping (jyut6ping3) — so you can switch between them inside a single input source.

Prerequisites: A GNOME desktop with ibus running as the input method framework (the default on Fedora and Ubuntu GNOME spins).

Quick append

Paste the block below into ~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml (create the file if it does not exist), then deploy Rime from the ibus tray icon. Each section is explained below.

~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml

patch:
  schema_list:
    - schema: luna_pinyin
    - schema: jyut6ping3

Installation

Tips

On Fedora, a single package pulls in everything including the Cantonese schema. On Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch, the jyut6ping3 schema data is split into a separate package and must be installed explicitly — see the tabs below.

Fedora

sudo dnf install ibus-rime

ibus-rime pulls in librime (the engine) and brise (the schema data bundle, which includes both luna_pinyin and jyut6ping3). No additional packages are needed.

After installing, verify that the Jyutping schema data is present:

rpm -ql brise | grep jyut6ping3

If the command returns at least one path (e.g. /usr/share/rime-data/jyut6ping3.schema.yaml), the schema is ready to enable. If it returns nothing, see the Cantonese fallback section below.

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo apt install ibus-rime rime-data-jyut6ping3

ibus-rime installs librime-data (which Recommends rime-data-luna-pinyin, covering Pinyin). jyut6ping3 is not pulled automatically — rime-data-jyut6ping3 must be added explicitly.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy) does not include rime-data-jyut6ping3 in its apt repositories. If you are on 22.04, skip this package and use the Cantonese fallback instead (manual install from the upstream rime/rime-cantonese repo). Ubuntu 24.04 (noble) and newer, and Debian bookworm and newer, all have the package available.

After installing, check that the Jyutping schema file is present:

find /usr/share/rime-data -name "jyut6ping3*"

If no file is found, see the Cantonese fallback section below.

Arch

sudo pacman -S ibus-rime rime-cantonese

rime-cantonese is in the official extra repository — no AUR helper required. luna_pinyin is pulled in automatically as a hard dependency (via librime → librime-data). jyut6ping3 requires rime-cantonese explicitly.

After installing, check that the Jyutping schema file is present:

find /usr/share/rime-data -name "jyut6ping3*"

If no file is found, see the Cantonese fallback section below.

Enabling the Schemas

Rime's active schemas are controlled by a configuration patch file at ~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml. The patch: key overrides selected values from Rime's built-in defaults without replacing the entire config — anything not listed in patch: remains at its default.

Create or open the file in a text editor — a GUI editor such as gnome-text-editor works perfectly:

gnome-text-editor ~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml

Add the following content:

~/.config/ibus/rime/default.custom.yaml

patch:
  schema_list:
    - schema: luna_pinyin
    - schema: jyut6ping3

Why patch: instead of a full config file

Rime ships with its own default.yaml containing many defaults. If you create a default.yaml in your user directory it replaces the entire system file, which means you lose any future upstream improvements. The default.custom.yaml + patch: approach merges your overrides on top, so you only specify what you want to change.

Save the file. The schema IDs (luna_pinyin, jyut6ping3) must match the filenames in /usr/share/rime-data/ exactly (underscores, no hyphens).

Deploying

After saving default.custom.yaml, Rime must rebuild its compiled configuration before the new schemas take effect.

• Open the IBus tray menu

  Click the keyboard icon in the GNOME system tray (or look for the ibus indicator). Select Deploy from the menu.

  Rime will process the schema files and write the compiled output to ~/.config/ibus/rime/build/. This takes a few seconds.

• Verify the deploy completed

  Check that the build directory is populated:

  ls ~/.config/ibus/rime/build/

  You should see files such as luna_pinyin.schema.yaml and jyut6ping3.schema.yaml among the output.

• If the tray icon is not visible

  Log out and back in to restart the ibus daemon, then try again.

Adding the GNOME Input Source

Once Rime is deployed, add it as an input source in GNOME so it appears in the language switcher.

• Open keyboard settings

  Go to Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources, then click the + button.

• Select the language

  Search for and select Chinese.

• Select Rime

  From the Chinese variants listed, choose Chinese (Rime).

• Confirm

  Click Add. The Rime input source will now appear in your input source list.

Alternatively, add it in one command via gsettings:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'gb'), ('ibus', 'rime')]"

This command replaces your entire input source list. Adjust the ('xkb', 'gb') entry to match your existing keyboard layout before running it (e.g. ('xkb', 'us') for US QWERTY).

Switching Between Input Sources and Schemas

There are two levels of switching:

Action	Default keybind	What it does
Switch input source	Super+Space	Cycles between all input sources in GNOME (e.g. your keyboard layout ↔ Rime)
Switch Rime schema	F4 or Ctrl+`	Opens the Rime schema switcher menu — choose luna_pinyin for Pinyin or jyut6ping3 for Cantonese Jyutping

Super+Space is a GNOME-level bind and works regardless of which application is focused. F4 / Ctrl+` are Rime-internal — they only work when Rime is the active input source.

Cantonese Fallback

This section applies if the jyut6ping3 availability check in the Installation section returned no files. The most common case is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy), which does not include rime-data-jyut6ping3 in apt. It also applies to any other distro or release where the package is unavailable.

The canonical Cantonese schema lives in the rime/rime-cantonese repository on GitHub. To install it manually:

• Ensure the Rime user directory exists

  mkdir -p ~/.config/ibus/rime

• Download the schema files

  Clone or download the repository, then copy the required files into your Rime user directory:

  git clone https://github.com/rime/rime-cantonese.git /tmp/rime-cantonese
  cp /tmp/rime-cantonese/jyut6ping3*.yaml ~/.config/ibus/rime/

• Redeploy Rime

  Click Deploy in the ibus tray menu (or log out and back in). Rime will pick up the new schema files from ~/.config/ibus/rime/ and compile them alongside the system-installed schemas.

After redeploying, verify jyut6ping3 appears when you press F4 or Ctrl+` inside Rime.

Resources

• rime.im — official Rime project site
• rime/ibus-rime — IBus frontend source
• rime/rime-cantonese — upstream Cantonese Jyutping schema
• ArchWiki — Rime — distro-agnostic setup notes and troubleshooting

Contributors

aier9500

Changelog

6/23/26, 2:38 AM

View All Changelog

• b656e-Draft version of Rime guide, outline only, does not work.on 6/23/26