Subject: Linux-Development Digest #129
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 10:13:10 EDT

Linux-Development Digest #129, Volume #2          Tue, 6 Sep 94 10:13:10 EDT

Contents:
  Re: hdparm.c and/or new fast-IDE won't work now! (R. Andrew Reynolds)
  Serial port problems (Joerg Wedeck)
  Re: WARNING about shadow-mk package (Gary Paul Gortmaker)
  Re: MPEG Hardware Decoder (Kai Dittmann)
  TL5212 driver (Davyd Luque)
  Re: WARNING about shadow-mk package (Patrick Reijnen)
  Re: Installation, Support, Testing [Was: Future of Linux] (Alan Cox)
  Re: BOOTPD / newer kernels, BUG? (Alan Cox)
  Re: cat /proc/interrupts doesn't show printer ints. (Chris Metcalf)
  Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development (Harald T. Alvestrand)
  Re: Anyone working on ISDN card drivers ?? (Olaf Titz)
  Re: more than 2 COM ports at the same time (Alan Cox)
  Re: HORRIBLE SWAP THRASHING BUG (memory prob?) (Russell Leighton)
  Linux T-Shirts. Get your order in NOW! :) (Jean-Paul Chia)
  Re: Unicode & Linux's future (was Re: Acid) (Alan Cox)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (R. Andrew Reynolds)
Subject: Re: hdparm.c and/or new fast-IDE won't work now!
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 09:55:22 GMT

Mark Lord ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]> jr7877@eehpx12 writes:
: >Hi, I am running version 1.1.49 of the kernel.  When I used to start up
: >with the older IDE stuff (<1.48) and the older version of hdparm, I could
: >get mult-count to 16 and umask to 1.  But now I get an error at startup:
: >
: >setting mult-count to 16 - HDIO_SETMULTCOUNT failed, errno=22
: >setting unmask to 1 - HDIO_SETUNMASKINTR failed, errno=22
: > multcount = 0
: > unmask    = 0
: >
: >What is errno 22?
: "Invalid Argument"  (from /usr/include/linux/errno.h
: Since you didn't show us the command line you were using,
: it's kinda difficult to show you what you're doing wrong.
: My guess is that your command line looks something like:
:       hdparm -m16 -u1 /dev/hda1
: As of newer kernels, better error checking is now done.
: In particular, the "-m" and "-u" settings can only ever apply
: to the entire physical device, so minor devices are not allowed
: on the command line when changing those parameters.
: Try this instead:
:       hdparm -m16 -u1 /dev/hda
: -ml
: -- 
: [email-masked]  Mark Lord       BNR Ottawa,Canada       613-763-7482
I'm having a problem with hdparm as well. I invoke hdparm -m16 /dev/hda,
and I get this message:
/dev/hda:
 setting mult-count to 16
 multcount = 16

But when I read /var/adm/messages, I came across this:

Sep  6 06:53:05 reynolds kernel:   hda: enabled 16-sector multiple mode
Sep  6 06:53:05 reynolds kernel: hda: multwrite_intr: status = 0xd0
Sep  6 06:53:05 reynolds last message repeated 7 times
Sep  6 06:53:05 reynolds kernel: hda: reset multiple mode to 0

I quite sure that my system can do 16-sector multiple mode, because I've had
great success with similar shareware programs for Messy-DOS. The hard drive
subsystem is a Conner CP3044 IDE drive, hooked up to a generic 16 bit
Super I/O card. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (-:

--
Andrew Reynolds | [email-masked] [email-masked] | "400=400"
Dalhousie CS    |  "I'm just a guppy in a sea of sharks."  | -L. Rolston, 1992

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Joerg Wedeck)
Subject: Serial port problems
Date: 6 Sep 1994 08:26:45 GMT

Hi,

as the subject says i am having problems with the serial port with
ALL linux kernels, when switching to speeds higher than 19200 baud.
from 38400 baud on onward i have to experience data losses.

My system with an i486 DX-2/66 has a pci motherboard with saturn
chipset. the controller is a so called SMC 37C663 Super I/O Controller,
which incorporates control for serial and parallel ports, floppy and
ide controller.
the manual says there are 2 NS16C552 compatible UARTs which support
FIFO. Are these UARTs incompatible to the serial driver provided by
linux ?
it appears to me that hardware flow control is failing (it definitely
works when trying under dos).

hoping for an answer,

        Joerg
--
==================================+======================================
Joerg Wedeck                      | E-Mail: [email-masked]\
Universitaet Tuebingen            |             .uni-tuebingen.de
Lehrstuhl fuer Techn. Informatik  |
Sand 13                           |
72076 Tuebingen                   |
Germany                           |
==================================+======================================
       Deswegen bin ich ja Optio, und Du nur Legionaer :-)
=========================================================================

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Gary Paul Gortmaker)
Subject: Re: WARNING about shadow-mk package
Date: 6 Sep 1994 20:40:05 +1000

[email-masked] (Larry Doolittle) writes:

>If Mohan is the cracker you suggest, what he would hate the most
>would be publishing the login.secure program.

>If Mohan is innocent, the fastest way to clear his neame would be
>to publish the login.secure program.

>Either way, I suggest you uuencode login.secure (if it's not an
>ASCII shell script :-) and post it to these newsgroups.  A lot
>of people here are competent with unassemblers.

...killing a fly with a cannon -- what about strace?  <grin>

Paul.

------------------------------

Date: 05 Sep 1994 16:51:00 +0200
From: [email-masked] (Kai Dittmann)
Subject: Re: MPEG Hardware Decoder

>
> Hello:
>
>       Does anyone know of an MPEG Hardware decoder that has been ported
> to Linux? For example, has the Reel Magic card been ported to Linux?
>
> [email-masked]

?????

Well, we've atomised our ReelMagic Card, and linked into the Kernel...
The only Problem is too, i can't plug my Monitor to the Kernel :)

---Kai

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Davyd Luque)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: TL5212 driver
Date: 5 Sep 1994 16:05:52 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

 
        Hi All!
 
        I'm trying to use a 3200 bpi tape for reading a backup from 
a Nixdorf mainframe , and I've got a TL5212 Overland Data tape, controlled
by a Peltec controller board. I've got DOS drivers, but I have nothing for
UNIX. Does anybody know where to find drivers for SCO or LINUX?
 
                Thanks in advance!!

---
   .oooO   _   _   Oooo.    e-mail: [email-masked]       Fax:343-440-0899
   (   )  / ) ( \  (   )            [email-masked]  Data:343-440-0899
    \ (  / (   ) \  ) /                   http://www.upc.es/~davyd
 ----\_)(   ) (   )(_/---|)/\/`/(|-
        .oooO-Oooo.                  Todo lo que me gusta es inmoral
                                           ilegal o engorda.

------------------------------

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
From: [email-masked] (Patrick Reijnen)
Subject: Re: WARNING about shadow-mk package
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 11:29:27 GMT

In <im14u2c.778835074@cegt201> [email-masked] (Joe Zbiciak) writes:

>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

>This post is in regards to the login.secure program included in
>the shadow-mk package authored by Mohan Kokal.  I, Joseph R.M. Zbiciak,
>am the sole author of this program, and would like to dispell any
>rumors labeling it as the tool of a "cracker." 

>Included in this post is the source code for my /bin/login replacement.

>The binary included in the shadow-mk package distributed by Mohan Kokal
>was apparently compiled under GCC 2.4.5, using libc 4.4.4.  I base this
>statement on the fact that the binary was indeed compiled by me on my
>personal Linux box, "asylum," prior to June 9th.  On June 9th, I upgraded
>to GCC 2.5.8, and libc 4.5.26.

>Inspection of the login.secure binary will reveal that it was indeed
>linked with libc 4.4.4.  

>Therefore, I seek corroboration of the following, since I cannot
>do this myself (my system has no room to dl libc 4.4.4 and gcc 2.4.5 to
>try this):

>The login.secure binary was most probably compiled as follows:

>gcc -o login.secure -s -N -O6 -fomit-frame-pointer -m386 login1.c

>(as I said, under GCC 2.4.5, and libc 4.4.4)

>Using GCC 2.5.8 and libc 4.5.26 yeilds an executable of 1328 bytes
>with these options.  

>Let me remind you that the /bin/login on my system has been and continues 
>to be the login.secure binary that was included in shadow-mk.  (Size:
>1124 bytes.  CRC: a4abbb26)

>I have PGP-signed this post to ensure its authenticity.  My public key
>is available via finger.  Please finger [email-masked].
>Pipe the output to a file and run pgp -ka on the file to add the key
>to your keyring.  This key is primarily for private messages.  I do not
>yet have a well established key for business use.  One will be forthcoming.

>Please:  I urge *ANYONE* that has any questions, problems, etc. relating
>this program to CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY.  My email address is, once again,
>[email-masked].  Should that address fail, there's also
>[email-masked].  Should both of those addresses fail for one
>reason or another, email Mohan Kokal at [email-masked], with
>instructions to forward the mail to me.

>And again:  I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused
>anyone.  The shadow-mk package is not insecure.  The login.secure is
>indeed what it was titled.  I do hope that this post lays to rest any
>suspicion about the shadow-mk package, its contents, and its author.
>I also apologize to Mohan Kokal for not realizing that such a small piece
>of code would cause such a large number of people to label him as a
>cheap-and-dirty cracker.  

Hmm, some people just over react a bit every now and then. Don't bother..

>Here's the source code:

>==FILE: login1.c==
>/* Preprocessor for /bin/login                    */
>/* Corrects /bin/login security hole regarding -f */
>/* Also disables -h for non-root users.           */
>/* (c) 1994, Joseph R. M. Zbiciak                 */

>#include <strings.h>
>#include <unistd.h>
>#include <stdio.h>

>main (int argc, char * argv[], char * envp[])
>{
>       char **av=argv;
>       int ac=argc;

>       if (argc>1) {
>               while(--ac>0) {
>                       if (**(++av)=='-' && strlen(*av)>1) {
>                                *((*av)+2)=0;
>                                if (*((*av)+1)=='h' && getuid()>100) {
>                                       fprintf(stderr,"You cannot specify a new host.\n");
>                                       exit (1);
>                                }
>                       }
>               }
>       }

>       execve("/bin/_login",argv,envp);
>       return 0;
>}
>==END OF FILE==

>- --Joseph R.M. Zbiciak
>  Systems Administrator & Programmer
>  Texas Networking Systems, Inc.

>DISCLAIMER:  Neither this post, nor any other post made by me, reflects
>             the opinions of my various employers, unless EXPLICITLY
>             stated.  All opinions stated herein are mine unless otherwise
>             noted.

>                                                := Joe Zbiciak == im14u2c@ =:
>                                                :- - cegt201.bradley.edu - -:
>           If it works, Don't fix it.           : -  camelot.bradley.edu  - :
>                                                :-Finger for PGP Public Key-:
>                                                :===========================:

>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>Version: 2.3a

>iQCVAgUBLmwUH/1glWhKqKRRAQHCAgP6AqTd3G9kzRm12GqiE29aL1VHjkYxb/hU
>FW4F0+TEIM7RbUcbfFPilwtnb2n08btgcLW+92YZRGf4FmzteVLEMhecz/+wB9Wd
>/Dr8rH5rUrJw2Lclx7ZmiLDLfBVHLahcRNQ/oH/itLg9UJXLzLKq8igEniIpyxgW
>LevHNAnbWgM=
>=VIIl
>-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Patrick Reijnen

--
************************* Patrick Reijnen *************************
* Department of Computer Science, Catholic University of Nijmegen * 
* Email:  patrickr@{sci,cs}.kun.nl                                *
* WWW:    http://{atlas,zeus}.cs.kun.nl:4080/homepage.html        *

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Installation, Support, Testing [Was: Future of Linux]
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 11:18:38 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Dan Connolly) writes:
>       Is there a regression suite that the Linux developers will
>       use to qualify the 1.2 release? How do we know that new
>       developments haven't re-introduced old bugs? Or do we believe
>       it's more cost-effective to just release it and fix the
>       remaining problems in 1.2.x patch releases? (a distinct
>       possibility)

At least for the networking there are enough 'live and dangerous' systems
that most bugs are either obscure and few people see them or they turn up
quickly. I do some regression testing, but my primary test mode is that
www.linux.org.uk is normally running the latest and greatest netcode and
taking a battering. I'd like to set up a major IRC hub under Linux at some
point to really give it some 24hr/day nastiness.

Naturally anyone who wants to write and provide a complete test suite for
the Linux tcp/ip is more than welcome 8)

Alan

-- 
  ..-----------,,----------------------------,,----------------------------,,
 // Alan Cox  //  [email-masked]   //  GW4PTS@GB7SWN.#45.GBR.EU  //
 ``----------'`----------------------------'`----------------------------''

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: BOOTPD / newer kernels, BUG?
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 11:25:40 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> jmaclean@localhost (James MacLean) writes:
>I too am seeing this. With an older bootpd (from Slackware?), I could get 
>a client to initialize if, after the bootp request came in, I manually
>updated the arp to reflect the clients hardware address. Otherwise

Get the up to date bootpd from sunacm.swan.ac.uk in the
/pub/Linux/Networking/PROGRAMS/Updates directory. The old one had a bug that
Linux now spots and dislikes.

Alan
-- 
  ..-----------,,----------------------------,,----------------------------,,
 // Alan Cox  //  [email-masked]   //  GW4PTS@GB7SWN.#45.GBR.EU  //
 ``----------'`----------------------------'`----------------------------''

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Chris Metcalf)
Subject: Re: cat /proc/interrupts doesn't show printer ints.
Date: 6 Sep 1994 12:17:03 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
 <[email-masked]> wrote:
> The Subject says it all. I am *almost* sure my printer uses INT7, as I set it
>by tunelp, and it works, and if I set it to another value, it doesn't. 

The printer interrupt is only grabbed when the device is open.  Try
something like

        sleep 10 > /dev/lp1 &
        cat /proc/interrupts

(Or perhaps "cat /proc/interrupts < /dev/lp1".)

-- 
                        Chris Metcalf, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
                        [email-masked]   //   +1 (617) 253-7766

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Harald T. Alvestrand)
Subject: Re: [STATUS] Linus Floppy Driver Development
Date: 6 Sep 1994 12:18:47 GMT

Another problem with the floppy driver:
It complains (probably the background autoprobe) when, as in my case,
there *is* no floppy in the machine.

And when one turns up after initialization, it can't find it.

I have a removable PCMCIA floppy, and am trying to write a card services
module for it, so that it works - but time and the size of the floppy
driver are incompatible quantities.....
-- 
                   Harald Tveit Alvestrand
                [email-masked]
      G=Harald;I=T;S=Alvestrand;O=uninett;P=uninett;C=no
                      +47 73 59 70 94
My son's name is Torbjørn. The letter between "j" and "r" is o with a slash.

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Olaf Titz)
Subject: Re: Anyone working on ISDN card drivers ??
Date: 6 Sep 1994 12:30:32 GMT

In article <19940901.145536.270665.NETNEWS@esoc>,  <[email-masked]> wrote:
> If anyone is working on or knows of ISDN drivers for Linux systems please would you
> let me know ??  I'm considering moving into the digital world and I need some

There is an ISDN driver that is unfortunately based on a heavily
patched kernel (but works well). It currently supports only the Teles
"dumb" ISDN card (the cheapest :-) and the German ISDN standard.

ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/unix/linux/isdn

Olaf

-- 
___     [email-masked] - [email-masked]
__ o      <a href="http://rzstud1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/~uknf/">click</a>
__/<_     also: [email-masked] - [email-masked] - praetorius@irc
_)>(_)_________  "now i find that most of the time love's not enough in itself"

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: more than 2 COM ports at the same time
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 12:27:30 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Harry C Pulley) writes:
>Sorry to follow up my own post.  I already have 2 parallel ports on 5 and 7 and
>a sound card on IRQ7.  Unfortunately, I don't think my multi-I/O card can
>change the IRQ for COM4 to IRQ2.  Thus, changing IRQs is not an option.

Got a hacksaw and a broken 16bit PC card. Get the PC edge connector list
from a diagram, find out where the IRQ is fed out of your 8 bit card -
normally its one side of a run of jumpers, hook a wire into a bit of 16bit
card stuck in the 16bit part of the slot and go.

Alan
-- 
  ..-----------,,----------------------------,,----------------------------,,
 // Alan Cox  //  [email-masked]   //  GW4PTS@GB7SWN.#45.GBR.EU  //
 ``----------'`----------------------------'`----------------------------''

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Russell Leighton)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin
Subject: Re: HORRIBLE SWAP THRASHING BUG (memory prob?)
Date: 6 Sep 1994 08:49:20 -0400

Thanks to all that have responded to my message. A number
of people have run "thrash.c" with no problems, all of these
are running 1.1.49. Perhaps that is the answer. I will upgrade
(from 1.1.48) and see. More later.

Russ

-- 
        Russell Leighton     
        Taylor Computing   
        [email-masked]  [email-masked] 
        http://taylor.digex.net  http://www.digex.net/~rrl/Welcome.html

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Jean-Paul Chia)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.admin,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Linux T-Shirts. Get your order in NOW! :)
Date: 6 Sep 1994 21:07:35 +0800

Hello..
I've decided to add the "Linux Inside" and the "LINUX.. The choice of a GNU 
generation" T-Shirts, since they are so popular. Please don't mail me any
payment, be it Visa numbers, or Cheques, money orders, etc, yet. I will
mail you when the T-Shirts are printed, and then get the details, before
I send them. 

"Linux! Not UNIX!" T-Shirts are either, Black on White, Navy Blue on White, 
or White on Black, Long or Short Sleeved T-Shirts. "Linux! Not UNIX!" is
written on the back of the shirt, and on the front left corner a neat litle
"Linux." is printed.

"Linux Inside" T-Shirts have the "Linux Inside" Logo, by Rick Lyons, printed
on either Long or Short sleeved. White T-Shirts. I will only print a limited
amount of these T-Shirts, so please get your order in now.

"Linux.. The Choice of a GNU Generation" T-Shirts have the slogan printed in
Black across the back of a Long or Short sleeved, white, T-Shirt. With  
"Linux." printed on the front.

Thank you.
- JP

==============================================================================
Please Complete and Email to: [email-masked]
or Fax to +61-9-447-4098 or if you have to.. Mail it to: 
Linux T-Shirts
12 Guinevere Way
Carine WA 6020
Australia
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Name:

Email Address(es):

Mailling Address:

Phone Number or Fax Number:

                |                Size             | S/L | Quantity | Total |
================| Small | Medium | Large | XLarge |=====|==========|=======|
Linux! Not UNIX |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
          US$12 |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
 Black on White |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
===========================================================================|
Linux! Not UNIX |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
          US$15 |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
 Blue on White  |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
===========================================================================|
Linux! Not UNIX |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
          US$15 |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
 White on Black |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
===========================================================================|
 GNU Linux.. *  |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
          US$15 |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
 Black on White |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
===========================================================================|
  Linux Inside! |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
          US$18 |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
 Logo on White  |       |        |       |        |     |          |       |
===========================================================================|
 * Linux: The choice of a GNU generation

Postage within Australia and USA - Express       (2-4 days) US$20  _________
                                 - Airmail  (within 7 days) US$15  _________
                                 - Economy Air  (7-10 days) US$7   _________
                                 - Sea Mail                 US$2   _________

Postage outside USA and Australia - Express                 US$30  _________
                                  - Airmail                 US$18  _________
                                  - Economy Air             US$10  _________
                                  - Sea Mail                US$5   _________

                                                      TOTAL: _______________

For Credit Cards, I need your Name, Address, Phone number, and the Name of
the on the card, the card type, the card number, and expiry date.

If you wish to send a Cheque in US$, or a Money Order again in $US
Dollars, then please make it out to: Jean-Paul Chia
                                     12 Guinevere Way,
                                     Carine Western Australia 6020,
                                     Australia
And please send it as soon as possible, because international mail is
slow, and I need the money before I can print the shirts.

I do not advise sending cash in the mail. Unless you _have_ to, then
please don't, and I will not take any responsibility if the money is
stolen by Australia Post, or the local Post man. :)

Quantity discount for orders for more than 5 T-Shirts, US$2 off the price
of every T-Shirt.

Visa Card Details (Please mail to [email-masked]),
* All Orders shipped OVERSEAS require pre-payment

Account Number:                                          Expiration Date:

Name on Card:

Your Name:

Your Address:

Your Phone Number:

===========================================================================

Thank you.
- JP

--      
        Jean-Paul Chia                      TheWiz @ IRC
        Drasnian Technologies,  Perth, Western Australia
        PH +61-9-447-6261             FAX +61-9-447-4098
        [email-masked], [email-masked]

------------------------------

From: [email-masked] (Alan Cox)
Subject: Re: Unicode & Linux's future (was Re: Acid)
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 13:38:19 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>SECONDLY, let's consider what it means to "support" multiple languages.  On
>the lowest level, it means simply that the operating system and its core
>drivers permit the use of character representations that may be wider than
>8 bits.  After this there are several more issues to consider.  The first

In the case of the Linux kernel this isn't too drastic. Firstly there is almost
no core operating system assumption about strings present. The single glaring
one is the '/' symbol and ascii NUL. An encoding that keeps ascii NUL
special is a good idea from C points of view. The / would need the kernel
to know the basic primitive rules to spot / as opposed to a / as part of
a 16bit symbol. Keeping this straight when doing NFS with a non multi
lingual system will be fascinating 8).

>is input methods:  Do the keyboard drivers work with the operating system
>in such a way that one can, on the fly, change one's keymap?  Does it sup-
Yes.
>port contextual code changes (e.g. Arabic letters will differ depending on
>their position relative to other letters)?  Finally, do the display drivers
>and GUIs support multiple wordwrap directions?  And are their conventions

X windows does. Its fair to say its not exactly used a lot but X can do it.

>for storing messages, text, etc. as separate "resources" so that one can
>switch from one set to another for localization purposes?

Yes. There are standard tools and library functions for this already in the
current kernels. Again they 'think' 8 bit bytes still but the basics are
there to be extended on including things like foreign dates, foreign
collation orders (sorting) etc. Stuff like the C library is already 
internationalised, and having seen how irritating a German release is to
English people I'm now trying to internationalise the network tools. The
current stuff isn't really sufficient as far as I can see for 16bit unicode
although its close to it and since I'm quite new to the nlcat functions
I may have missed something.

>The idea of switching code pages (DOS/OS2-ish) or doing setlocale calls,
>as one finds with ANSI C is antithetical to certain aspects of the Uni-
>code/ISO 10646 design philosophy, in the sense that this philosophy en-
>compasses all national scripts, rather than forces us to toggle between
>incompatible standards.  Some toggling will always be needed, of course.
>But the toggling, I'd think, would be between pages in the Unicode and
>ISO 10646 space.

setlocale is needed because some issues are not resolved by Unicode -
notably things like dates and collation orders. For some languages other
areas like ascii -> integer conversions change rules too. Those will really
be much more complex.

>So things are improving.  What can we do here under Linux?  I really can't
>say.  I just don't think that the old idea of multiple conflicting schemes
>represents a workable form of internationalization.  Nor does hacking this
>or that software to do this or that language.

I shall take a good look at the encoding schemes one day but I suspect 
unicode file names are not a serious issue. Someone has apparently worked
on the console driver. Linux International are working on
internationalisation using the Unix nlcat stuff - a step in the right
direction but probably not all the way.

>Am I babbling nonsense, or am I making sense?

You are raising issues that most people don't care about or need, but which
I suspect you are right in believing will matter some day.

Alan
-- 
  ..-----------,,----------------------------,,----------------------------,,
 // Alan Cox  //  [email-masked]   //  GW4PTS@GB7SWN.#45.GBR.EU  //
 ``----------'`----------------------------'`----------------------------''

------------------------------

** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **

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End of Linux-Development Digest
******************************