[Groff] Re: hyphenation and encoding

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > Well, the default bundle of groff doesn't come with koi8 support.
>
> Do you want it?

No, since it can't be handled completely.

> Or everything will be dealt with by preconv?

Yes.

> >> What about hcode?
> 
> Is it possible to use UTF or uXXXX names in its arguments?

Only real characters, *no* groff entities.

> Or only koi8?

No.

> Having to keep track of encoding changes when reading configuration
> files looks like a promise of future surprises.

???  preconv converts everything to the \[uXXXX] form.  This is
independent of the encoding.  For hyphenation, the mappings in the
.hcode request are used, because you have to an 8bit encoding here.

> Is it now possible to hyphenate a mixed english/russian/french UTF
> text (switching languages by hla)?

This is possible if you define macros which call both .hla and then
the associated set of .hcode calls.  Currently, hyphenation codes are
not stored within .hla which I consider a design error.  It could be
fixed rather easily, I think, but I have no time to do that.
Answering the many emails almost eats up the whole time I can afford
:-(


    Werner