This is an introduction to using Traditional Chinese and - other languages in GNUstep. Note, however, that I have only tested - these instructions with Traditional Chinese of either BIG5 or - Unicode (iso10646-1) encoding. But since GNUstep is generally - internationalized, this introduction could be applied to other - languages with limited modification.
+This brief article illustrates how to set up your GNUstep for + the East Asian languages known as CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and + Korean) in literature. We assume that you already know how to + set up your X Window System for your language environment such + as locale, fonts, and input methods. We also assume that you + selected 'art' as the backend of GNUstep's GUI. +
+ +Like other computer software made outside the region, GNUstep + requires some adjustment to use those languages. The adjustment + consists of the following steps: +
+Now we explain each step in detail.
+ +The art backend expects font files to be found in the
+ specified directories, such as
+
+ Check out these documents about installation and usage of nfonts:
+
+ By default, GNUstep assumes that a character is encoded in + ISO8859-1 unless the escape character \u precedes it (This + exception applies to other encodings). Hence, if you want to + use the characters of your native language with GNUstep, you + have to tell it which encoding you use. This can be done by + setting the environmental variable GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING to an + appropriate value. +
+ +Some possible values for GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING are as follows:
++ Of these values, choose an appropriate one for your purpose and + set the environmental variable to it. For example, for sh or + bash, +
+or, for csh,
+
- GNUstep uses Unicode internally. Everything it reads will be
- converted into Unicode. It will assume that everything it reads is in
- NSISOLatin1StringEncoding (iso8859-1) as the default encoding except
- scripts with escape (\u) ahead. User can change the default encoding
- by setting the environment variable GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING.
+ Now that you specify the encoding, you have to determine which fonts you
+ use to display the characters of your native language.
Becuase the fonts used in GNUstep GUI are initially set to + those that are appropriate for European languages, you have to + overwrite them to display the characters correctly. +
+ +At least, you need to change the user default value NSFont. + For example, suppose you have an .nfont package called MyFont + and want to use it to display the characters. To do this, use + the GNUstep's utility 'defaults' as follows:
-For example, in bash:
Now, it will assume that everything it reads without an escape is - NSBIG5StringEncoding (BIG5). GNUstep will also write anything into - this default encoding.
-There is a handy tool to convert between encodings: - cvtenc. Programmers should use this tool to convert property - lists to Unicode before releasing them.
-In XWindows, GNUstep use the XIM input method. Any XIM-server
- should be able to input script into GNUstep. The way GNUstep knows
- the encoding of the input is from the environment variable
- LC_CTYPE. In order to input Traditional Chinese,
- LC_CTYPE must be set for example, in .xinitrc
Right now, GNUstep supports UTF8 and Big5 encoding in input. If it
- doesn't work for your language, try to add more encoding support in
- -initWithDelegate:display:name:
- (back/Source/x11/XIMInputServer.m).
Depending on the graphics library you use, GNUstep handles font - display slightly differently. You can choose the graphics library - when configuring the backend:
-the argument --enable-graphics could be either
- xlib or art for now. Personally I would
- suggest using art, which offer better font management.
You can specify the font and size you want to use with - the GNUstep defaults system. For exmample: -
-The font name should be the same as the font name of `xlsfonts` - output, but each word has to be capitalized. If you don't know - what font names GNUstep supports, use the font panel in Ink.app - to find out the font name.
-GNUstep will use a font cache in ~/GNUstep/Library/Font/Cache/ - to store the fonts of XWindows. Everytime you add more fonts to - XWindows, you have to delete this cache and let the program build a - new one. When you specify the default font, GNUstep will - look it up in the font cache, and pick up the matched font in XWindows, - then use this font to display text. GNUstep also support Xft for - anti-aliased font display. Add GSFontAntiAlias=YES to your defaults - to activate it. In order to use Traditional Chinese properly, always - set it. In order to use Xft, you also need to set freetype or - xtt in your XF86Config (most of the time this is done for you.)
-Here is the problem you might meet when using Chinese fonts - (arphic) in GNUstep:
-Each font will be assigned as big-0 or iso8859-1 - in fonts.dir by default, but actually arphic font is iso10646-1 - encoding. XWindows usually does the encoding conversion internally. So - when you use "Ar Pl Kaitim Big5", you have a - chance of picking up either big5-0 or iso8859-1 encoding, and neither - works for GNUstep for unknown reason. The solution is:
-That's it. GNUstep should pick up the right font - (iso10646-1). Since the mapping between NSFont in GNUstep (without - encoding information) and font in XWindows (with encoding - information) may not be unique ("Ar Pl Kaitim Big5" could be - "-arphic-ar pl kaitim big5-*-*..-big5-0" or "-arphic-ar pl kaitim - big5-*-*..-iso8859-1" or "-arphic-ar pl kaitim - big5-*-*..-iso10646-1"), you have to put the iso10646-1 font in - front of other encodings and use GSFontMask to filter out other - possible choices so that GNUstep can pick up the correct one. And - for now, I can only use the iso10646-1 font for Chinese - display. Font with other encoding (including big5) does not work - and is not well-tested.
-If you still have problems, look at the - back/Source/xlib/XftFont.m and dump the font name of NSFont and - encoding of the corresponding XWindows font. Sometimes the font - cache can't find the matched XWindows font, and sometimes the - encoding of the XWindows font is different from what Xft got. An - example of the latter is that Xft will think the encoding of - "-arphic-ar pl kaitim big5-*-*..-big5-0" is "apple-roman". Only - "-arphic-ar pl kaitim big5-*-*..-iso10646-1" can be recognized as - "iso10646-1" correctly. Therefore, make sure GNUstep picks the right - XWindows font.
+ ++ Depending on situation, you may also need to set NSUserFont to + the same font. For further details about the user default values, the + reader can refer to the documents DefaultsSummary.html and + NSFont.html shipped with the GNUstep packages. +
The art backend use freetype for font management, and - minimizes encoding problems. Simply add a Chinese font into your - font collection as with other fonts, and enjoy the beautiful Chinese - characters.
+GNUstep supports internationalization and - localization. In a few steps, you should be able to use it with your - language.
-GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING to read/write
- locally encoded files, including Localizable.strings.LC_CTYPE. If your XIM-Server
- doesn't support UTF8 or Big5 encoding, try to add your encoding
- into XIMInputServer.m+ Although this article has focused on the CJK languages, most part of it + is also applicable to other languages if GNUstep supports the enconding + you need. +
+ ++ If you find a way to set up GNUstep with your native language + other than CJK, please consider to contribute it to the GNUstep + community to share your invaluable experience with others. We'll + greatly appreciate it. Comments or suggestions are also welcome. +