Re: Wine and locales

[Shachar Shemesh]

David Lee Lambert wrote:
I don't agree. Mixing default codepages across simultaneously running 
programs is not possible on Windows, and sounds horribly difficult to 
implement. Clipboard handling and cross-file using are two examples of 
things that are likely to go horribly wrong if we tried.
   

If a program does a an ANSI call,  it gets changed to Unicode.  If that 
data gets passed back to another program using an ANSI call, it gets 
converted to the target codepage,  as much as possible.  If Wine is doing 
console output to a non-Unicode codepage,  it gets converted there too.
 

Ok, you convinced me. Implement that in a way that Alexandre will deem 
fit for commit, and I won't object too loudly. I do believe that you 
will not succeed with the first part, however.

I'm not sure about mixing codepages under Windows, but input-method 
switching is easy.
 

True, but irrelevant.
Having one setting applicable to all running processes sounds good 
enough. I don't object to a config setting overriding what LC_CTYPE 
says, but I don't see a use for it either.
   

Let's say I want to run an Arabic dictionary program and Spanish 
dictionary program as I'm typing a report in Word.  Furthermore,  the 
arabic dictionary program would use ANSI calls and expects to run on 
Arabic windows (with MS-ARAB encoding);  the Spanish program would use 
LATIN1.  Word uses wide-character calls.  How would I run all these 
programs at the same time under Wine?
 

Forget that. How would you run that under Windows? As far as I know, you 
can't do it there either. Coming from a country where a large portion of 
the population are native Russian speakers in a country where the 
dominant language is Hebrew, I'm pretty sure that I'd hear about it if 
it were possible.

(I'm not saying I actually have such a set of programs.  Actually,  I own 
a copy of a standalone program that allows typing of Arabic programs on 
Western windows,  and also have access to systems where Office XP with the 
Arabic and US-International input methods is installed.)
 

Yes. That's because they either use the Unicode interface, or implement 
their own rendering engine.

In short, I think what you're trying is impossible under Windows. I can 
also see some immediate implications to trying to do it in Wine. If it's 
important to you, you're welcome at it. It will not enter my personal 
todo list, however.

         Shachar
--
Shachar Shemesh
Lingnu Open Source Consulting ltd.
http://www.lingnu.com/