How to reload .XCompose without a reboot?

Question

When I edit my ~/.XCompose file, I need to reboot Ubuntu 16.04 for the changes to take effect. Is there a way to tell Ubuntu to reload the definitions in the file without doing a full reboot?

Are you sure you need a reboot? Just close the application in which you intend using the Compose key and restart the application. Any modification to ~/.XCompose should be effective immediately. — DK Bose, Dec 11 '18 at 15:51
For some reason, restarting the application doesn't work for me. In my system, changes are only recognized in all applications after a reboot. — ARX, Dec 11 '18 at 16:35

score 15 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 04 '25 at 00:01

15

Restart the input method program you are running. For a brute force approach, if your OS comes with pidof, you can use the following command:

pidof <INPUTMETHOD> | xargs kill -9; <INPUTMETHOD>

(Just replace with the actual command for your input method program.)

Your input method may include a command to restart it. In my case, it's fcitx, which offers this command:

fcitx -r

All changes are instantly activated. However, some applications may need to be restarted.

As ARX mentions in comments, ibus has its own command to restart as well:

ibus restart

To find out which input method you are using, run the following:

im-config

It will open a window with a list of steps it takes to determine your input method. You can also use the -m command line option to print the method in your console (without the details about each step...)

edited Jun 04 '25 at 00:01

Alexis Wilke

2,787

answered Nov 19 '19 at 17:27

8

This works for ibus. You can also use "ibus restart" as a simpler alternative. Thanks! – ARX Jul 19 '20 at 23:43
2

ibus restart works on Ubuntu 23.04, Unity, X11. – starbeamrainbowlabs Sep 30 '23 at 01:23
1

ibus restart also works in Ubuntu 23.04, Wayland. – Adam Dingle Oct 07 '23 at 06:52
2

How do we determine what our input method is? I don't have either ibus or fcitx installed. (I'm on Debian Testing, so slightly off brand, but not by much.) – Adam Katz Oct 02 '24 at 16:36

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 03 '25 at 18:37

I'm on ubuntu 22.10, and my problem is that: I'm including files from ~/.XCompose, and if the modifications are inside the included files but not directly to ~/.XCompose, then apps won't pick up the updates. So I have to do a dummy editing directly inside ~/.XCompose, and restart apps.

To sum up:

Check that your updates are directly inside ~/.XCompose (not one of your included files). Or you need to do a dummy editing like me (retouching ~/.XCompose might also work).
Restart application.

If above not work, you might as well try these:

restart input engine.
restart X.
relogin.

How to reload .XCompose without a reboot?

2 Answers2