Convert system to utf-8

Dieter · 2006-09-12 05:32:54

Hello all,

I'm running a multiboot linux pc here. Most other distributions installed use utf8 character encoding now. For files shared on several systems, it would be better to use the same encoding for all installations.

I read about some problems with utf8 support in arch here in the forum. What is the status of that? Can I try to change my arch system to utf8 or will I run into problems?
What applications do not have utf8 supoort at the moment (mc?)?
Has anyone of you already successfully converted his arch system to utf8?

Thanks in advance for some tipps before I have negative impact here...
Dieter

detto · 2006-09-12 07:24:51

So far i always used UTF-8 without a problem here.
I heard only about problems with some console apps, dont know if mc is one of them
Godd luck,

cheers,
deTTo

Romashka · 2006-09-12 07:59:52

Dieter wrote:

I read about some problems with utf8 support in arch here in the forum. What is the status of that? Can I try to change my arch system to utf8 or will I run into problems?

It depends what language you are using. The most problems with Unicode are wih cyrillic and IIRC arabic characters. UTF-8 support in Arch is not complete to make it default for all users but you can try if it satisfies your needs and don't break anything.

Dieter wrote:

What applications do not have utf8 supoort at the moment (mc?)?
Has anyone of you already successfully converted his arch system to utf8?

AFAIK these apps are mc, coreutils, nano + all ncurses-based apps + some more (especially outdated).
You can use mc-utf8 from community (but IMHO it still has some display bugs).
Take a look at BR #4418 for patches for mc and coreutils.
Note that currently it is harder to use plain text console than some X terminal because in terminal you will have less problems with fonts.
There are also some problems with GTK1 apps. See BR #4652 for more details.

So, if you don't use console much then you are safe to use UTF8. And if you find some bugs - report them.

soloport · 2006-09-12 15:25:20

Hoping this isn't too off-topic...

From a fresh install, /etc/rc.conf contains the reference: LOCALE="en_us.utf-8"

Out of habit, I change that to LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8" to match the actual string in /etc/locale.gen

I do this because I've experienced trouble in the past (too long ago to remember the details) which this simple change fixes. So I have to wonder: Why hasn't anyone else noticed this? I read through dozens of forum threads and this never comes up. Is it really case-insensitive and I'm just fooling myself? Could the plethora of discussions surrounding this very annoying lack of support in Arch boil down to this simple change? (i.e. I've never had the problems described in other LOCALE discussions)

The person who first pointed out this simple fix said they had reported the bug (again, it's been well over a year since). Yet for every new release and through every wave of upgrades, rc.conf.pacnew shows no change.

I'm just very curious to know if anyone actually knows truth from fiction, here.

Romashka · 2006-09-12 15:39:23

soloport wrote:

From a fresh install, /etc/rc.conf contains the reference: LOCALE="en_us.utf-8"

In fact, it contains

LOCALE="en_US.utf8"

in the recent versions of initscripts.

Both en_US.utf8 and en_US.UTF-8 should work. en_us is wrong anyway (note lowercase us).
For example I use uk_UA.KOI8-U in rc.conf:

[root@server ~]# locale -a
C
POSIX
uk_UA
uk_UA.koi8u
[root@server ~]# locale
LANG=uk_UA.KOI8-U
LC_CTYPE="uk_UA.KOI8-U"
. . .
LC_IDENTIFICATION="uk_UA.KOI8-U"
LC_ALL=

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-12 05:32:54

Convert system to utf-8

#2 2006-09-12 07:24:51

Re: Convert system to utf-8

#3 2006-09-12 07:59:52

Re: Convert system to utf-8

#4 2006-09-12 15:25:20

Re: Convert system to utf-8

#5 2006-09-12 15:39:23

Re: Convert system to utf-8

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