UTF-8 and GNUstep

[Christopher Culver]

I'm very interested in i18n and generally develop (im-classgreek.
sourceforge.net, for example) and seek out software which supports 
Unicode and mixing of scripts. With apps programed in GTK2 for example, 
text entry and display is UTF-8, so users can view and type non-ASCII 
characters with ease. GNUstep, however, has me a bit stumped, because I 
don't know how to enable UTF-8 display and input.

Opening a UTF-8 text file with, for example, Ink.app shows the ASCII 
portion just fine but all UTF-8 characters are ASCII garbage. 
Similarly, if I attempt to type foreign scripts into a text field in a 
GS application, it shows as ASCII-garbage.

I've heard that this may be a backend problem (I'm using the art 
backend) and not a universal GNUstep problem. But I really hope a fix 
is on the way. My current project is a character map for GNUstep 
(though I haven't gotten to the point where I've designed the actual 
display, just the internals), and I would really hate to see such a 
utility useful only for people who compiled GNUstep with a certain 
backend.

So, please let this GS newbie know how Unicode or UTF-8 display 
functions, and what doesn't work and why.

Christopher Culver