[bug-gtypist] Fwd: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character

[gevisz]

I have just found out that I have sent a lot of messages
in the thread only to Felix, and not to the bug-gtypist
mailing list. To fix this, I now resend most important
of them to the bug-typist mailing list.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: gevisz <address@hidden>
Date: 2016-01-09 16:35 GMT+02:00
Subject: Re: [bug-gtypist] Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
To: Felix Natter <address@hidden>


2016-01-08 23:24 GMT+02:00 gevisz <address@hidden>:
> 2016-01-08 21:48 GMT+02:00 Felix Natter <address@hidden>:
>>
>> the problem is this:
>>
>>> --disable-silent-rules --libdir=/usr/lib64 --disable-nls EMACS=no
>> [...]
>>> checking whether NLS is requested... no
>>
>> It seems you need to set a "use flag":
>>   http://gentoobrowse.randomdan.homeip.net/package/app-misc/gtypist#uses
>
> Hi, Felix, and thank you for your reply.
>
> I have not exactly got what you wrote above but I think
> that it is somehow related with what I have found yesterday,
> namely, I tried to compile gtypist with the nls use flag
> (nls stands for `native language support') and after that
> gtypist started to accept ru.typ.
>
> But this, in my view is a bug, as nls use flag should
> switch on (and off, when it disabled) only translation
> of help and menues into the "native lanuage".
>
> I have nls use flag switched off globally (that is, for
> all applications) and nevertheless can edit a text in
> cyrillic in a text editor, read and write e-mails in cyrillic
> with my e-mail client, view web pages in cyrillic via
> web browser, etc. Only the menues appear appear in English.
>
> Yesterday, I reported this to gentoo-user mailing list
> (as I thought that the use flags is a unique feature
> of Gentoo, and therefore it is Gentoo devs who should
> take care of that).
>
> However, today I have got an answer from the
> gentoo-user list asking me to report this bug
> to the gtypist mailing list, which implies that
> I, probably, was wrong supposing that use flags
> are unique feature of Gentoo and that it is Gentoo
> devs who should take care about it.

I have just got the answer from the gentoo-user mailing list
explaining that the nls use flag used by Gentoo directly
translates to --enable-nls or  --disable-nls argument of
./configure script, so its incorrect use should be corrected
by you (gtypist devs).

Below, I provide a copy of that e-mail.

To my view, to fix the issue, you --enable-nls or  --disable-nls
arguments to ./configure script should be at least renamed
to --enable-utf8 or  --disable-uft8.

As I have already explained it above, --enable-nls or  --disable-nls
should do something different, namely, translate menues (and, maybe,
help) with the gettext utility or something like that, which is definitely
had not been done in gtypist even with --enable-nls. For example, while
using `gtypist ru.typ', one has to constantly change the keyboard layout
from ru to en to answer the menu questions (some of them even has not
been translated) with Y, N, etc. Whereas,  a proper localization would mean
that all the menu questions are translated and a user can answer them
without changing the keyboard layout with just Д, Н, etc.

> On Fri, 8 January 2016, at 1:13 p.m., gevisz <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> 2016-01-08 13:50 GMT+02:00 Stroller <address@hidden>:
>>
>>> On Fri, 8 January 2016, at 12:32 a.m., gevisz <address@hidden> wrote:
>>>
>>> Just of curiosity compiled gtypist with nls use flag.
>>> Now it accepts ru.typ! But it is a bug because nls flag
>>> is supposed to only switch on the translation of the
>>> corresponding menu and help messages. So, it should
>>> accept ru.typ even if compiled without the nls use flag!
>>
>> I'm glad you're sorted. You should let the gtypist devs know of this bug.
>
> Thank you for your help!
>
> However, before turning to the gtypist devs, I should clarify one more,
> may be stupid, question, namely: "Who is responsible for the correct
> `functioning' of the use flags?" Because I always thought that the use
> flags are a unique feature of the Gentoo distribution (and therefore, it
> is the the Gentoo devs who are responsible for them) but your advice
> above implies that it is not true.

The ebuild is (mostly) just a wrapper for preceding software
installation tools, like make and gcc.

In a previous message you showed us that the Gtypist devs had asked you
"Can you check whether this appears when running ./configure?
 Also, which arguments are used for ./configure?"

In the case of the nls USE flag, the ebuild is just calling configure
with certain arguments:

   src_configure() {
       econf $(use_enable nls)
   }

   src_install() {
       emake DESTDIR="${D}" install
   }

   Note the IUSE variable. This lists all (non-special) use flags that are
   used by the ebuild. This is used for the emerge -pv output, amongst
   other things.

   The package's ./configure script takes the usual --enable-nls or
   --disable-nls argument. We use the use_enable utility function to
   generate this automatically, depending on the user's USE flags (see
   Query Functions Reference).

This is a top google hit for use_enable:
https://devmanual.gentoo.org/quickstart/