[Gnu-arch-users] Re: [semi-OT] Unicode / han unification (was Re: Spaces ...)

[Miles Bader]

Tom Lord <address@hidden> writes:
> > My personal test is the `README test':  I'd like `cat README' to
> > always yield something appropriate even on a dumb terminal -- even
> > if the README file is part of a Chinese package, and I'm reading it
> > on my American computer (say at a university where the computer
> > systems have to cater to a very diverse audience).
> 
> > As far as I know, basic Unicode doesn't do this correctly for CJK,
> > though it apparently does for other character sets.
> 
> That flatly contradicts the assertions of the Unicode Consortium.
> They maintain that, in fact, your dumb terminal can use a font which
> will be readable to everyone (who can read these languages in the
> first place).   So I'm skeptical of your claim.

If I'm wrong because in fact they _have_ adequately addressed the points
I raised above, I would be very glad!

However most of the defenses of unicode in this respect that I've seen
have boiled down to:  (1) `you should be using the right font in the
first place' (via some external configuration) or (2) `you should be
using some out-of-band font/language specifier' (typically something
like XML!)

IOW, `Then don't do that.'

However I haven't really payed attention for a long time; it could be
that the defenses you've seen are talking about the in-band language
encoding stuff.

> That particular dumb terminals may fail this test would not surprise
> me, but I'd say (at this point) that that's a bug in the terminal, not
> the character set.

Agreed -- _if_ a `unicode only' document _can_ support this functionality.

-Miles
-- 
自らを空にして、心を開く時、道は開かれる