Bug#1034040: How useful is debian/ibus-keyman.postinst?

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnarhj@debian.org>]

Package: ibus-keyman
Version: 16.0.139-4

Hi!

Without being sure I actually found a bug, I would like to raise a 
discussion as a follow-up of <https://bugs.debian.org/1033571> (which 
hasn't been well received so far). The unblock discussion made me aware 
of this script:

https://github.com/keymanapp/keyman/blob/master/linux/debian/ibus-keyman.postinst

The script makes me think of im-config, which sets the applicable 
environment variables and starts ibus-daemon at login.

I suppose the purpose with the script is to make ibus-keyman instantly 
usable in the same session as it is installed. I imagine that may work 
if ibus-daemon was already running and thus the needed environment 
variables already set for the session. But what if ibus was pulled as a 
dependency when installing ibus-keyman? Will keyman work in a meaningful 
way even if the variables are not present?

If the answer to that question is "no", wouldn't it be more 
straightforward to instruct the users to relogin before starting to use 
keyman, and thus drop the postinst script?

I may well have misunderstood it, and if so, I would appreciate a brief 
explanation of the intention with the script.

--
Rgds,
Gunnar