Re: Arabic Keyboard, and Localization (not related)

[Mohammed Yousif <mhdyousif at gmx dot net>]

At 10:06 ã 31/12/2001 +0200, you wrote:
> Salam All, Happy New Year for all those celebrating ( I am not :-) )
>
> I will try to keep it short and clear to avoid any misunderstanding or
> confustion that I saw around in the last posts related to Arabic Keyboard and
> Localization ( l10n) ..
>
> The Symbol to be used for Arabic Keyload layout is "ar" , it will be defined
> in :
> $XDIR/lib/X11/xkb/symbols
> There is NO other 'ar' Keyboard layout defined, so that would not be a
> probelm. Currently Contact with the i18n (internationalization) people in
> xfree86 is conducted, it it aimed to add the 'ar' keyboard symbol and it's
> definition to the xkb ( X Keyboard).

There are no problems with XFree86 Isam , the problem exists with KDE (kxkb)

> on parallel ther is issues with the kxkb ( KDE xkb) definitions that has it's
> fix going underway. The Arab League Flag will be used to represent the Arabic
> Language in the kxkb icon and control Module.

How would u do that ? and where could u add the Arab League flag ? (that's 
the point, so plz read)


> Another issue that seems got mixed up some how to the Keyboard issue is the
> Localization ( l10n ) of KDE. Each Arab Country will have it's initial
> defined ( standard) and have it's flag defined as well. and Have Arabic
> language defined as the Langauge used.

I'm not talking about localization , and no mix's there , I just mean that 
if we take the symbol and named it 'sa' it will appear with Saudi Arabia 
flag , if we named it 'ar' kxkb will search for a country that has the code 
'ar' and put its flag along with the two letters 'ar' (I MEAN IN KXKB) and 
of course it will find the country Argentina and put its flag with the two 
letters 'ar' (STILL MEAN IN KXKB , don't get confused)
try to name it 'ar' and run kde control panel then goto kxkb section (KDE 
keyboard layout) you will find the arabic keyboard layout with Argentina 
flag and the two letters 'ar' !! try it if u don't believe!!

then there is no conflicts in XFree86 , the only conflict is with KDE 
(kxkb) and we should be aware of that!
It may look a bit confusing but it's not.


> Localization data are KDE relative, while the Keyboard definition ( above) is
> for all X window, meaning that Arabic keyboard will be defined for KDE,
> Gnome, window maker, and what ever window manager that uses X.

Still mean the conflict with KDE not any other wm or XFree86

> I hope that this is clear now, And I hope that no more confustion and
> suggesions for Language code, country code, flag is nessesery.

they are nessesery Isam , cuz we need to change the two letters 'ar' to be 
away from the conflict with Argentina with ONLY KDE.
***********************************************

u didn't get me guys , so plz be patient and read
when I said we should have a flag , i meant that flag that is along with 
the 'AR' code (and that's not XFree86 issue)
as I saw from the keyboard layouts for various languages :
-Each language is represented by two letters , and these two letters does 
NOT have anything to do with the name of language it DOES have a lot to do 
with the name of the country this language is used most , look at these 
examples :
for Hebrew (sorry for starting with it, but I have to) the two letters are 
NOT used , the two letters used is 'IL' which stands for 'ISRAEL' NOT 
'HEBREW' and because of that kxkb searches for the country that have the 
two letters 'IL' and put its flag along with the keyboard layout there is 
NO 'HE' there!
for American English the two letters 'US' are used not 'EN'
all the keyboard layouts use two letters from the country which uses this 
language most, not from the language name itself!

AFAIK , we're the ONLY ones who use two letters from the name of the 
language not from the name of a country that uses this language most , we 
should have used a country for example Saudi Arabia and name the symbol 
'sa' , so kde can get the flag from Saudi Arabia entry and put it along the 
keyboard layout in kxkb.
Of course we cannot accept such a thing cuz as Isam said Saudi Arabia does 
NOT represent arabic!

so , we have a problem , which country we should use its two letters ?
the answer is just easy ,
We have two solutions :
-We can use a VIRTUAL country and name it 'AL' which stands for Arab League 
and put a flag with it and put an entry for it and the arabic symbol will 
be named 'al' and the part of source code we need to put in 
kdebase/kxkb/rules.cpp will be { "al", "ISO8859-6",1 },
-We can use an existing country to represent arabic such as 'sa' and Saudi 
arabia flag (that's what is already expected by KDE) and the arabic symbol 
will be named 'sa' and the part of source code we need to put in 
kdebase/kxkb/rules.cpp will be { "sa", "ISO8859-6",1 },

Which one of them we should use ?
that depends on your suggestions and if KDE people allows us to put a 
virtual country for 'AL' or not.

sorry for the confusion I put u on , it's my fault I should have told u 
that I'm talking about KDE itself not XFree86 but I thought u already know 
that.

well isam , u turned the discussion to doc at arabeyes dot org and now 
developer at arabeyes dot org will have no clue about all of that .

Again , u can try ur self , use the symbol as is (named 'ar') and see what 
flag in kxkb will be with these two letters ;-)