Chosen input source not persistent with IBus and m17n

[O Gopal]

I am using two input sources: English and sa-IAST (m17n) (which is used for transliterated Sanskrit).

In my experience, the input source sa-IAST doesn't remain persistent, or "sticky," between applications, and it won't automatically start in an application either.

For example:

If I am in gedit and my language is set to English, I can use the app indicator to change to sa-IAST, and the input source will work as expected. But if I then switch to LibreOffice Writer, the app-indicator will still indicate sa-IAST, but sa-IAST will no longer work. Only if I switch back to English and then use the app indicator to switch back to sa-IAST does sa-IAST again work.

And regardless of which application I'm in, if my input source is set to sa-IAST the application ignores it. Only after I switch to English and then use the app indicator to switch back to sa-IAST does the application "get it."

Unlike switching to sa-IAST using the app indicator, using a key combination (like alt-space) to switch to sa-IAST doesn't activate the sa-IAST input source. When I use the key combination, the language displayed by the app indicator changes, but the behavior of the keyboard doesn't.

Just for a test, I installed "Hindi (phonetic (m17n)) (IBus)." I saw the same behavior pattern for this input source as well.

As another test, I installed "Hindi (Bolnagri)," and it works fine.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ibus-m17n 1.3.4-4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-43.63-generic 4.4.21
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-43-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Oct 16 16:30:24 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-07-18 (821 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ibus-m17n
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-07-23 (84 days ago)

[O Gopal (jswami)]

The reported problem showed up in the Unity desktop environment. With the Gnome desktop, all seems fine.