RE: unicode strings

[Gadi Bergman]

Hello Andrew and thank you for your very quick response,

I do not expect the protocol for X to be Unicode-based. However,
programs written in Java do display their characters correctly for all
languages when running under X. I assume that they are drawing their own
characters with built-in fonts. That would be hard to expect from
text-based GDB, but since DDD is a graphic application then it is much
more natural.

Thanks again,
Gadi.

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Gaylard [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 2:02 PM
To: Gadi Bergman
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: unicode strings

Gadi Bergman wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>  
> 
> I wish to view Unicode strings (wchar_t*), even in English.
> 
> Is it possible? If not, will it ever be possible?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Gadi.

There are several possible problems with doing this.

Firstly, the underlying debugger would have to display
Unicode strings.  I don't know whether gdb can do this
yet, but if it can't then that's the first place to ask.

Secondly, there would have to be a way to let ddd know
what encoding gdb and the application are using.  Since
you mention wchar_t, I assume that this isn't UTF-8.
It mightn't be sufficient to simply use $LANG, since
DDD might be running on a completely different host
from gdb, which in turn might be on a different host
from the application being debugged.

Thirdly, we would have to fight the ongoing battle with
geting Motif to play I18N nicely; presently, your best
bet is to use LessTif or "unset LANG".

Sorry if this sounds a bit depressing.  On the positive
side, I'd welcome any patches in this area.

Andrew.