Localization Issues

This section describes localization issues that apply to Solaris 10 OS.

Deadkeys Not Working With GTK Applications on Xsun in EMEA UTF-8 Locales (6429880)

When logging to European UTF-8 locales, deadkeys are not working with GTK (Gnome) applications on Xsun if the IM mode is not Latin. No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

Turn on Latin mode by pressing the Ctrl+Space, the default IM trigger key combination. To show input mode and to switch the input language on the Java Desktop System, add the Input Method Switcher applet on the JDS panel by clicking mouse button 3 on the panel and selecting Add to Panel -> Utility -> InputMethod Switcher.

L10N Messages Missing When Using localeadm Utility to Add Locales (6423974)

When the Locale_config configuration file is created using the DVD/net image, using the Locale_config file to add locales leaves many unlocalized messages on the Gnome Desktop. No error message is displayed.

Workaround 1:

Login as superuser and do the following:

1. Change to the location of the localeadm Locale_config file.

   # cd /usr/sadm/lib/localeadm/

2. Revert to the existing Locale_config file bundled with the localeadm utility.

   # mv Locale_config_S10.txt.old Locale_config_S10.txt

Workaround 2:

Re-create the Locale_config file by using the CD images.

IIIMF Packages Might Not be Installed (6388988)

Internet/Intranet Input Method Framework (IIIMF) packages required for input method in UTF-8 locales, might not be installed by your locale selection during Solaris install. No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

1. Check, if IIIMF packages are installed on the Solaris OS.

   % pkginfo SUNWiiimr SUNWiiimu

2. Install IIIMF packages.

   # pkgadd -d <package directory> SUNWiiimr SUNWiiimu

SPARC: Keycode 50 Does Not Work for European Keyboard Layouts (6387317)

Keycode 50 is not working for European keyboard layouts. This problem occurs with all European *6.kt keytable files. All keytables assign some symbols to keycode 50, but the key does not work. No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

Edit the *6.kt files in the /usr/openwin/share/etc/keytables directory. Duplicate keycode 50 for keycode 49 in the affected *6.kt file. For example, add the following entry for keycode 49 to the affected keytable file:

49 RN XK_numbersign XK_asciitilde

Several Arabic Fonts Do Not Work in GNOME (6384024)

In GNOME when you select certain Arabic fonts, the characters do not display. This problem appears when you select fonts for applications, the desktop, or the window title using the GNOME font properties menu. The affected fonts include:

• Akhbar MT (Regular, Bold)

• Shayyal MT (Regular, Bold)

• Naskh MT (Regular, Bold)

No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

Use any of the newly delivered Kacst family of fonts to display Arabic characters in GNOME applications.

Unable to Switch Input Language on Session-Saved Applications (6360759)

Multiple language input is supported in UTF-8 locales, but the language switch is not working with session-saved applications where mouse button 1 is clicked first after login. This problem occurs with the Java Desktop System (JDS). No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

Click mouse button 1 on the backgroundworkspace or Launch Menu before clicking any application.

Some Language Input Does Not Work Correctly on Non-U.S. Keyboard Layouts (6319383)

Localized keyboard layout based language inputs, such as Cyrillic and Arabic, are not working correctly with non-U.S. keyboard layouts. For example, if you are using French keyboard and switch to Arabic input then the typed output results are not based on Arabic Keyboard layout. For more information about input method, see Input Method Preference Editor and InputMethod Switcher Applet help. No error message is displayed.

Workaround 1:

Use XKB extension to switch keyboard layouts for Xorg server (x86 only). For example, add the following entry to the xorg.conf configuration file:

Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard1" Driver "Keyboard" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "us,fr,ru" Option "XKbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle" EndSection

This configuration enables you to switch among U.S., French, and Russian keyboard layouts by pressing the Alt-Shift keys. For more information, see the /usr/X11/share/doc/README.XKB-Config file.

Workaround 2:

Use the xorgcfg utility to configure localized keyboard layouts (x86 only).

If a non-root user uses the xorgcfg utility, the configuration is not saved, but keyboard layout is changed for the current session.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Mozilla in ES Locale Are Unusual and Ambiguous (6288620)

The keyboard shortcuts in Mozilla 1.7 are unusual, especially in Spanish locale. For example, Ctrl-S is being used for copying as well as for saving. No error message is displayed.

Workaround:

Identify the shortcut keys assigned to user actions from menu in the product.

Login Screen Marks UTF-8 Locales as Recommended

On the Language menu of the login screen, the UTF-8 locales are labeled as a recommended option. For example, for Japanese locales, the screen would appear as follows:

ja_JP.eucJP -------------- Japanese EUC
ja_JP.PCK  --------------- Japanese PCK
ja_JP.UTF-8 (Recommended) - Japanese UTF-8

Using UTF-8 locales is recommended to users of the Java Desktop System (JDS) because JDS uses UTF-8/Unicode as internal character encoding. This recommendation also applies to the announcement of future end-of-software support for non-UTF-8 locales. See Legacy or Traditional Non-UTF-8 Locales.

When migrating to UTF-8 locales, the files affect the method that you use to import or export data.

Microsoft Office Files

Microsoft Office files are encoded in Unicode. StarOffice applications can read and write the Unicode encoded files.

HTML Files

HTML files authored using HTML editors such as Mozilla Composer, or HTML files saved by a web browser, usually contain a charset encoding tag. After exporting or importing, you can browse such HTML files with the Mozilla Navigator web browser, or edit the files with Mozilla Composer, according to the encoding tag in the HTML file.

Fixing Broken HTML File

Some HTML files might be displayed in garbage characters. This problem is typically due to the following reasons:

• The charset encoding tag is incorrect.

• The charset encoding tag is missing.

To find the charset encoding tag in the HTML file, perform the following actions:

1. Open the file with Mozilla.

2. Press Ctrl-i, or click View to open the View menu.

3. Click Page Info.

The charset information is in the bottom of the General tab, for example:

Content-Type text/html; charset=us-ascii

If the string charset=us-ascii does not match the actual encoding of the file, the file might appear broken. To edit the encodings of the HTML file, perform the following actions:

1. Open the file with Mozilla Composer.

2. Open the File menu.

3. Select Save as Charset.

4. Choose the correct encoding. Mozilla Composer automatically converts the encoding and the charset tag as appropriate.

Emails Saved As Portable Format

Modern mails are tagged with the MIME charset tag. The Email and Calendar application accepts MIME charset tags. You do not need to perform any encoding conversion.

Plain Text Files

Plain text files do not have a charset tag. If the files are not in UTF-8 encoding, encoding conversion is needed. For example, to convert a plain text file encoded in Traditional Chinese big5 to UTF-8, execute the following command:

iconv -f big5 -t UTF-8 inputfilename



 > outputfilename

You can also use the File System Examiner for the encoding conversion.

You can use the Text Editor to read and write character encoding text automatically or by specifying an encoding explicitly when opening or saving a file.

To start Text Editor, click Launch, then choose Applications->Accessories->Text Editor.

File Names and Directory Names

If file names and directory names using multibyte characters are not in UTF-8 encoding, encoding conversion is needed. You can use File System Examiner to convert file and directory names and the contents of plain text files from legacy character encodings to UTF-8 encoding. Refer to the online Help for File System Examiner for more information.

To start File Systems Examiner, click Launch, then choose Applications->Utilities->File System Examiner.

When you access non-UTF-8 file or directory names on Microsoft Windows via SMB using File Manager, you can access the non-UTF-8 file or directory names without encoding conversion.

Launching Legacy Locale Applications

For applications that are not ready to migrate to Unicode UTF-8, you can create a launcher on a front panel to start the application in legacy locales. You can also launch the applications directly from the command line. Perform the following steps to create a launcher for an application.

1. Right-click on the panel where you want to place the launcher.

2. Choose Add to Panel->Launcher.

3. Use the following format to type the entry in the Command field in the Create Launcher dialog:

   env LANG=locale LC_ALL= locale application name

   For example, if you want to launch an application called motif-app from /usr/dt/bin in the Chinese Big5 locale, enter the following text in the Command field of the Create Launcher:

   env LANG=zh_TW.BIG5 LC_ALL=zh_TW.BIG5 /usr/dt/bin/motif-app

4. Click OK to create the launcher on the panel.

When you need to run CLI (command line interface) applications which are specific to a legacy locale, open a Terminal window in the legacy locale first and then run the CLI applications in the same Terminal window. To open a Terminal window in a legacy locale, enter the following command:

eng LANG=locale LC_ALL=locale GNOME-TERMINAL –disbable-factory.

Instead of opening a new Terminal window in a legacy locale, you can switch the locale setting from UTF-8 to a legacy locale in the current Terminal window by changing the encoding the Set Character Encoding menu in the Terminal window. Then you must also set the LANG and LANG environment variables to the current shell.

Hardware for Estonian Keyboard Type 6, French Canadian Keyboard Type 6, and Polish Programmers Keyboard Type 5 Not Available

Software support for three additional keyboard layouts has been added to the Solaris OS: Estonian keyboard Type 6, French Canadian keyboard Type 6, and Polish programmers keyboard Type 5.

This software gives users in Estonia, Canada, and Poland greater flexibility for keyboard input by modifying standard U.S. keyboard layouts to their own language needs.

Currently, no hardware is available for the three additional keyboard layout types.

Workaround: To take advantage of this new keyboard software, modify the /usr/openwin/share/etc/keytables/keytable.map file in one of the following ways:

• For the Estonian Type 6 keyboard, make the following changes:

  1. Change the US6.kt entry to Estonia6.kt in the /usr/openwin/share/etc/keytables/keytable.map file. The modified entry should read as follows:

     6                            0          Estonia6.kt

  2. Add the following entries to the /usr/openwin/lib/locale/iso8859-15/Compose file:

     <scaron> : "/xa8" scaron <scaron> : "/xa6" scaron <scaron> : "/270" scaron <scaron> : "/264" scaron

  3. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

• For the French Canadian Type 6 keyboard, make the following changes:

  1. Change the US6.kt entry to Canada6.kt in the /usr/openwin/share/etc/keytables/keytable.map file. The modified entry should read as follows:

     6                            0             Canada6.kt

  2. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

• If you are using the existing Polish Type 5 keyboard layout, make the following changes:

  1. Change the Poland5.kt entry to Poland5_pr.kt in the /usr/openwin/ share/etc/keytables/keytable.map file. The modified entry should read as follows:

     4                            52           Poland5_pr.kt

     ---

     Note - If you are using a keyboard with dip-switches, make sure the switches are set to the correct binary value for the Polish keytable entry (binary 52) before rebooting the system.

     ---

  2. If you are using a standard U.S. Type 5 keyboard, change the US5.kt entry to Poland5_pr.kt in the /usr/openwin/share/etc/keytables/keytable.map file. The modified entry should read as follows:

     4                            33           Poland5_pr.kt

  3. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

Cannot Print Documents in Portable Document Format (6239307, 6218079)

On all locales, the Document Viewer cannot print localized files that are in Portable Document Format (PDF).

Workaround: Choose one of the following workarounds:

• On SPARC based systems, use the Acrobat Reader to print localized PDF files.

• On x86 based systems, use StarOffice to create and then print PDF files.

x86: Login Process Might Hang in Certain Asian Non-UTF-8 Locales (6215527)

On some x86 based systems, if you log in to certain Asian non-UTF-8 locales, the login process might hang. The following are examples of the locales where the error is observed:

• zh_CN.EUC

• zh_TW.BIG5

• ko_KR.EUC

Workaround: At the login window's Language menu, choose UTF-8 locales.

Special Keyboard Keys Do Not Work (5077631)

Special keys on the left of the keyboard do not work on European keyboard mappings. This problem affects all European locales.

Workaround: Use shortcut keys instead of the special keyboard keys. The following example lists shortcut keys and the corresponding functions:

• Ctrl-Z - Undo

• Ctrl-C - Copy

• Ctrl-V - Paste

• Alt-Tab allows you to switch between windows.

Modifier Keys Do Not Function Correctly (4996542)

On all locales, the Alt key and the Shift key might not function as modifier keys when you use the Internet/Intranet input method. For example, the Shift-arrow key combination might not allow you to select text. Instead, the combination might insert Latin characters.

Workaround: Use a different input method, for example, Default. To switch input methods, right-click on an object and select Input method.

Chinese and Korean Characters Are Printed In a Box (4977300)

The postscript printer does not bundle Chinese or Korean fonts. Consequently, in Chinese or Korean locales, if you attempt to print from the Mozilla browser, the characters are printed within a box. The Common UNIX Printer System (CUPS) needs to convert the Mozilla postscript fonts before a file can be printed.

Workaround: Perform the following steps.

1. Click Launch => Preferences => Printers.

2. Right-click the PostScript printer icon, then select Properties.

3. Click the Advanced tab.

4. Set the Ghostscript pre-filtering to Convert to PS level 1.

Sort Capability in the European UTF-8 Locales Does Not Function Correctly (4307314)

The sort capability in the European UTF-8 locales does not work properly.

Workaround: Before you attempt to sort in a FIGGS UTF-8 locale, set the LC_COLLATE variable to the ISO–1 equivalent.

# echo $LC_COLLATE
>  es_ES.UTF-8
# LC_COLLATE=es_ES.IS08859-1
# export LC_COLLATE

Then start sorting.