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List:       xfree-i18n
Subject:    Re: [I18n]mb/wc Xft API (Re: ISO 10646 Fonts and XFontSet question)
From:       Keith Packard <keithp () keithp ! com>
Date:       2001-09-04 6:17:43
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Around 14 o'clock on Sep 4, Tomohiro KUBOTA wrote:

> It is true that we will not able to be rid of them.  However, libX11
> already has Unicode <-> locale encodings converters which was introduced
> for Xutf8* functions.  Since Xutf8* functions can never be removed,
> libX11 (or other library which is distributed with libX11 - like your
> plan) will continue to supply the converter.

Juliusz has already demonstrated that removing the converters from Xlib 
saves 250KB.  I'd like to make sure we leave that option open for the 
future, and certainly open for custom Xlib builds today.

As I said, it is trivial for anyone to develop a separate library to be 
included in XFree86 that wraps Xft in wc/mb APIs, thus there is clearly no 
reason to burden Xft with such functionality.

> Then which layer is appropriate for encoding conversion, do you think?

Encoding conversion belongs at the boundary of the application where it
interacts with the outside world; the internals of the application should
be coded in UTF-8.  If you insist on development with internal wc/mb based
data, you can place encoding conversion libraries at the interface to
systems which require Unicode.  Please take a look at the existing Xft 
APIs and figure out where suitable conversion routines would be needed; 
that document can form the basis of a library design that other mb/wc 
application developers could use.

keithp@keithp.com	 XFree86 Core Team		SuSE, Inc.


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