When we install KDE with EOS the installer does not install hunspell and dictionary packages associated with hunspell. For example if the locale is set to en_US during installation of EOS with KDE then the associated hunspell language dictionary package should be installed along with it.
Can the EOS devs please make this change?
The philosophy behind the installer for EOS is to include a functional but minimal base system that people can use to build up their own systems.
The expectation is that people will then add the packages they prefer for their personal needs post-installation.
If you select the option, the installer does offer packages for aspell
For people who are not that well versed in Linux packages, it would be helpful to have this option. For example I realized the issue when I went to do spell check on certain KDE apps and could not do it.
Also I was under the impression that aspell and ispell were to replaced by hunspell? hunspell remains the most widely used and deployed spell checker in Linux. Am I missing something over here?
This is true but there are also many other similar packages that would be helpful. For our distro, we deliberately don’t include all those packages in the installer and many of our users appreciate that philosophy. Some distros have a different philosophy where they are far more liberal in what they include because they prioritize functionality over minimalism. We try to find a balance between functionality and minimalism that is weighted a bit more to the minimalist side.
I am not sure of the history or reasoning for why we are including aspell over hunspell. Perhaps @joekamprad would know.
GNU Aspell, usually called just Aspell, is a free software spell checker designed to replace Ispell. It is the standard spell checker for the GNU operating system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Aspell
I do not remember exactly why i choose to add Aspell, but it was the one recommended, i bet?
Idea was to minimally support that for editors and such.
And adding different ones would confuse users only.
We could change to hunspell, from review now it looks legit to use it instead.
If you look on dependency for most common editors.. Everyone seems to recommend something else, some can made use of different too.
KDE:
To use Sonnet you need to install spell checkers like e.g. GNU Aspell, Hspell or Hunspell and additionally the corresponding dictionaries for your language.
GNOME:
XFCE4:
https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/mousepad/ depends optional on gspell too
Cinnamon:
https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/xed/ = gspell
Mate:
https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/enchant/ so all of them .. (interesting)
Budgie:
still gedit? = gspell
LXDE:
Leafpad = ispell ?
LXQT:
featherpad = Hunspell
Would need to add a bunch of them.. and in addition we need to detect and install needed language package in most cases, thats not easy as of the provided detection is not 100% correct all the time.. and it would let installs fail if so. Only possible method would be to add as we do with aspell:
Not sure if it is worth the struggle to add..
First thought: Yup, hunspell! I quite like it because it has a stemmer and morphology.
But as you show above, it’s a mess. Different software uses different spell checkers. (Too bad, actually—instead of making one real good.)
I’m on EOS/Cinnamon and also couldn’t avoid it, due to the software used:
$ pacman -Qs spell
local/aspell 0.60.8.1-2
A spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell
local/aspell-de 20161207.7.0-2
German dictionary for aspell
local/enchant 2.8.2-2
A wrapper library for generic spell checking
local/gspell 1.14.0-2
Spell-checking library for GTK applications
local/gtkspell3 3.0.10-3
Provides word-processor-style highlighting and replacement of misspelled
words in a GtkTextView widget
local/hunspell 1.7.2-2
Spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program
local/hunspell-de 20161207-9
German hunspell dictionaries
local/hunspell-en_gb 2020.12.07-5
GB English hunspell dictionaries
local/hunspell-en_us 2020.12.07-5
US English hunspell dictionaries
local/sonnet 6.15.0-1 (kf6)
Spelling framework for Qt
Guess it is as it is, for now… Maybe better to know your spelling… 
I definitely don’t think we should have more than one of them.
had the idea to add them per Desktop packages, but in general we should be more like go remove aspell too, i do not see it is still widely used at all, and there is no easy way to add it optional or Desktop specific. As @Moonbase59 mentioned, it’s a mess, more or less..
And only for some basic spell support on text editors.
Maybe add installer options for spellcheckers based on default text editor of the chosen DE?
For example XFCE uses mousepad so add option for gspell together with mousepad?
Or add spellcheck options next to the editors itself, if you select mousepad you can also select the spellchecker needed for this text editor?
Just a few thoughts
When I had installed EOS with KDE aspell or its dictionary packages based on the installation locale were not installed automatically. Even now aspell has not been installed.
Yep it is a mess. GTK based DE/WM also depend on gtkspell/gtkspell3 for those application which use GtkTextView component.
Would it be possible to give it as an option and document it in the EOS guides?
enchant is simply a wrapper over hunspell or aspell. Dont know if it wraps over ispell. In the list of optional dependencies ispell is not there. Though there is nuspell.
From what I have figured out the only two packages that actually provide the dictionaries for spell check are hunspell and aspell. No other packages actually provides the dictionaries.
I install both hunspell and aspell so I get a wide level of spell checking support. I am not so concerned about minimalism and prefer functionality over the negligible disk space usage.
IMO, ispell should be pretty much obsolete nowadays. I mean even the German hunspell is now almost 9 years old.
Having choices isn’t always the easiest path to walk on. A double-edged sword often. Like with EOS: Coming from Mint, which has much preinstalled and is thus rather “fully featured”, I have to readjust a little using EOS. But I love that it’s lean and sleak, in spite of one having to manually install the things you really want and need.
If one isn’t the type “oh yeah, let’s install that, looks great!” but instead the “let me read it up & check what I really want” type, this can lead to getting a real performant system without crashes, dependency hell, and sluggishness. And you learn a lot.
The question is everyone really in the need to have such spell checking by default ?
Personal, I never use spellchecking in a text editor… if I write text I use browser what have it own tools I can choose from, or my beloved Office Suite what includes Duden correction by default on its own.
In this case, adding the real thing will add a lot of complexity to the installer, that’s nothing we want to do at all.
What would be possible is to add an option to something like the quick-install app.
This runs on the installed system, but the complexity is there too (as long as you do this for people not knowing how to handle it in detail) it is in the need to know what language is used and adding packages accordingly, or it needs a dialog asking the user.
Best on arch is to get the knowledge and decide on your personal preference and needs.
I also tend to switch spellcheckers off, mostly. They’re never in the right language, and I write English text very often on a German system. Not all editors allow setting a locale per document.
Since—after install—usually some language packs have to be installed anyway, I’d probably leave it as is now, or at max replace aspell with hunspell, and let the installed software decide if they want this or that spell checker as a dependency.
Maybe a wiki page on the lines of “Installing language and spell checking support” could help. Then again, that is also different for different DEs.
Alternatively, as you say, we could only ask for the language(s) to be installed on the system, and then have to do wild & complicated checks depending on DE & software selected.
Yes i will work on that .. but as of i do never use such in any Texteditor i will first need to find the common usecases .. may someone here can give the one using?
For Text aka writing Mail per example it is in the Mail app i use Thunderbird and set it up to have German and English but same same with @Moonbase59 i do have always the wrong one there as of switch Language all the time..
Thunderbird is using hunspell: https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/thunderbird/
I am using KDE Plasma 6, so I can say for Plasma applications. Cant speak for GNOME/MATE/XFCE and others. For KDE Plasma there are a lot of applications like Kwrite, Kate, etc which depend on the system provided dictionaries, typically hunspell dictionaries packages.
I get the valid points that have been raised by @joekamprad and @Moonbase59. Arch is different from other distro. Where one has to know what to do and what not to do. That is again one of the reasons why Arch based distros, or even Arch itself is not considered good for beginners. This has upside that customization can be done to hearts content. The downside, missing elements have to be added.
I will be closing this issue. Hope to see this as a part of the Wiki document.
@joekamprad if you do have a stub for “Installing language and spell checking support” or “Post Installation checklist” or something similar I can fill it up with the required text about this.
