Changes/ibus-speech-to-text

ibus-speech-to-text

Summary

ibus-speech-to-text will provide voice dictation capabilities to any application supporting IBus input methods in Fedora Linux 42, using VOSK for local voice recognition.

Owner

• Name: Manish Tiwari
• Email: matiwari [at] redhat [dot] com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 42
• Last updated: 2025-02-19
• Announced
• Discussion thread
• FESCo issue: #3363
• Tracker bug: #2346273
• Release notes tracker: #184

Detailed Description

• ibus-speech-to-text provides a new input method that enables voice dictation in any application supporting IBus
• Uses VOSK for local voice recognition, not requiring internet connectivity
• Supports multiple languages through downloadable voice recognition models
• Includes a setup tool built with GTK 4 and libadwaita for model management and configuration

Benefit to Fedora

This package will bring several benefits to Fedora:

• Provides accessibility improvements through voice input capabilities
• Offers offline voice recognition, preserving user privacy
• Integrates seamlessly with existing IBus infrastructure
• Supports multiple languages through downloadable models
• Enhances user productivity through voice commands

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Package ibus-speech-to-text (review) [done]
  • Package dependencies: gst-vosk (bz) and vosk-api (bz) [done]

• Other developers: Parag Nemade

• Release engineering: #Releng issue number

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with the Fedora Strategy:

Early Testing (Optional)

Do you require 'QA Blueprint' support? N

How To Test

Functionality Test

1. Install required packages:sudo dnf install ibus-speech-to-text

2. Restart IBus using ibus restart command

3. Add Speech To Text in input sources

4. Launch the IBus STT Setup tool from the preferences for a configuration and to download a language model

5. Open a text editor

6. This Input Method can also be enabled and disabled with the default shortcut ("Win + Space") used to switch between IBus Input Methods

User Experience

Users will be able to:

• Dictate text in any application supporting IBus
• Switch between typing and voice input easily
• Manage language models through a modern IBus STT Setup tool

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Remove the package
• Contingency deadline: N/A
• Blocks release? N/A

Release Notes

ibus-speech-to-text has been added to Fedora