International Language Environments Guide

Preface

The International Language Environments Guide introduces the internationalization features that are new to the Oracle Solaris operating system (Oracle Solaris OS). The guide contains information on how to use the current Oracle Solaris release to build global software products that support a variety of languages and cultural conventions.

In addition, the guide provides pointers to other documentation that includes further information on the internationalization features in this release.

Note –

All of the information related to operating systems in the guide pertains to the Oracle Solaris operating system.

This preface includes the following sections.

Note –

This Oracle Solaris release supports systems that use the SPARC and x86 families of processor architectures: UltraSPARC, SPARC64, AMD64, Pentium, and Xeon EM64T. The supported systems appear in the Solaris 10 Hardware Compatibility List. This document cites any implementation differences between the platform types.

In this document the term “x86” refers to 64-bit and 32-bit systems manufactured using processors compatible with the AMD64 or Intel Xeon/Pentium product families. For supported systems, see the Oracle Solaris Hardware Compatibility List.

About This Book

This guide written for software developers and system administrators who design and support global applications in the current Oracle Solaris operating system.

The guide assumes that you have a working knowledge of the C programming language.

How This Guide Is Organized

The chapters in this guide are organized as follows:

Chapter 1, Oracle Solaris Internationalization Overview describes the new internationalization and localization features that are available in the current Oracle Solaris release.
Chapter 2, General Internationalization Features provides introductory information on Code Set Independence (CSI), the locale database, the libc APIs, and other internationalization features.
Chapter 3, Localization in the Oracle Solaris Environment provides information on the locales, fonts, and keyboards that are supported for use in the current Oracle Solaris operating system.
Chapter 4, Supported Asian Locales describes the Japanese, Hindi, and Thai localization support that is offered in the current Oracle Solaris release.
Chapter 5, Overview of UTF-8 Locale Support provides information on the available input methods and code conversion functionality supported for use in the current Oracle Solaris operating system.
Chapter 6, Complex Text Layout describes the Complex Text Layout (CTL) extensions that enable Motif APIs to support writing systems that require complex transformations between logical and physical text representations. Writing systems that require complex transformations include Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai.
Chapter 7, Print Filter Enhancement With mp explains printing support with particular emphasis on the mp print filter.
Appendix A, Compose and Dead Key Input describes the commonly used compose key sequences in the different input modes and key support.
Appendix B, Language Support Features and Enhancements describes the language support enhancements introduced in Solaris with different versions.

Related Books and Sites

The following books offer further information on the topics discussed in this guide:

Oracle Solaris internationalization:

Tuthill, Bill, and David Smallberg. Creating Worldwide Software: Solaris International Developer's Guide, 2nd edition. Mountain View, California, Sun Microsystems Press, 1997. This book is available through http://mailto:books@sun.com and http://www.sun.com/books/. The book offers a general overview of the internationalization process in the Oracle Solaris operating system.
Oracle Solaris Common Desktop Environment:

The Oracle Solaris Common Desktop Environment: Programmer's Guide is part of the CDE Developer's Collection that is shipped on the Oracle Solaris documentation CD.
Chinese and Korean Solaris locales:
- Korean Solaris User's Guide
- Simplified Chinese Solaris User's Guide
- Traditional Chinese Solaris User's Guide
OSF/Motif application development:

The OSF/Motif Programmer's Guide, Release 1.2, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1993. This book is the Open Software Foundations (OSF) guide on how to use the OSF/Motif application programming interface to create Motif applications.

Documentation, Support, and Training

See the following web sites for additional resources:

Documentation
Support
Training – Click the Sun link in the left navigation bar.

Oracle Software Resources

Oracle Technology Network offers a range of resources related to Oracle software:

Discuss technical problems and solutions on the Discussion Forums.
Get hands-on step-by-step tutorials with Oracle By Example.
Download Sample Code.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic conventions that are used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions


Typeface	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories, and onscreen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. `machine_name% you have mail.`
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with onscreen computer output	`machine_name%` `su` `Password:`
`aabbcc123`	Placeholder: replace with a real name or value	The command to remove a file is `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new terms, and terms to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in the User's Guide. A cache is a copy that is stored locally. Do not save the file. Note: Some emphasized items appear bold online.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default UNIX system prompt and superuser prompt for shells that are included in the Oracle Solaris OS. Note that the default system prompt that is displayed in command examples varies, depending on the Oracle Solaris release.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
Bash shell, Korn shell, and Bourne shell	`$`
Bash shell, Korn shell, and Bourne shell for superuser	`#`
C shell	`machine_name%`
C shell for superuser	`machine_name#`