🇱🇰 Helakuru Sinhala Typing for Fedora KDE (Wayland)

A complete step-by-step guide to enable Helakuru Sinhala typing support on Fedora Linux (KDE Plasma, Wayland).

When I move to fedora i need helakuru but they currently not provide it for fedora.Finally found a way to fix that. this is who need helakuru badly in linux commiunity.🥷🫡

---

✅ Features

• Sinhala Phonetic typing (like mobile Helakuru)
• Sinhala Wijesekara typing layout

---

🗒️ Requirements

• Fedora Linux 40 or newer
• KDE Plasma (Wayland session)
• helakuru.deb package or download it https://www.helakuru.lk/

---

🛠️ Installation Instructions

1. Install Required Packages

sudo dnf install ibus ibus-m17n m17n-db ibus-gtk3 ibus-gtk4 binutils im-chooser

2. Extract helakuru.deb

ar x helakuru.deb

# Extract the contents
mkdir helakuru && cd helakuru
tar -xvf ../data.tar.xz

3. Copy Keyboard Layout Files

sudo cp ./usr/share/m17n/si-helakuru-phonetic.mim /usr/share/m17n/
sudo cp ./usr/share/m17n/si-helakuru-wijesekara.mim /usr/share/m17n/
sudo cp ./usr/share/m17n/icons/*.png /usr/share/m17n/icons/

4. Configure IBus in KDE Wayland

1. Open KDE System Settings:
2. Go to Input & Output Devices → Virtual Keyboard
3. Select "IBus Wayland"
4. Click Apply
5. Log out and log back in

5. Add Helakuru via IBus Setup

ibus-setup

1. Go to the Input Method tab
2. Click Add → Sinhala → Choose:
   • Helakuru Phonetic (m17n**:si-helakuru-phonetic****)**
   • or Helakuru Wijesekara
3. Set as default if needed

6. Test It

• Use Super(windows key)+Space to switch
• Open a text editor
• Try typing:
  • fedora → ෆෙඩෝරා
  • sinhala → සිංහල

---

🔍 Troubleshooting

• Make sure you're in a Wayland session
• Do not export GTK_IM_MODULE, QT_IM_MODULE, or XMODIFIERS manually in .bashrc
• Use ibus-setup, not KDE Keyboard Layouts section

---

---

📄 License

You are free to modify, share, and improve this guide. Attribution appreciated!

---

🙏හෙළකුරු 🫶

• Special Thanks for Helakuru original developers for providing සිංහල අකුරු ♥️🫶❤️‍🔥

---

Happy හෙළකුරු typing on Fedora! 🥳🥳🥳