Re: [Itai Seggev] Bug#439559: emacs22-gtk: forward/back buttons backwards when GTK is set to RTL language

[Jan Djärv]

Itai Seggev skrev:
> On Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 08:10:26AM +0200, Jan Djärv wrote:
> > Itai Seggev skrev:
> > > On Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at 12:19:43PM +0200, Jan Djärv wrote:
> > > > I've made a fix in CVS HEAD, can you try that?
> > > OK, I've downloaded and compiled CVS HEAD. After about 2 minutes of
> > > testing, it seems that the next-node/previous-node buttons are
> > > correctly ordered for a RTL language, but that
> > > forward-history/back-history are still in the LTR orientation. I'll
> > > play some more with it after work and see if there are any additional 
> > > issues.
> > It seems that some themes don't supply RTL information.  Can you try some 
> > other themes and see if the forward-history/back-history are correct for 
> > any of them?  Crux, Bluecurve or Clearlooks works for me.
>
> OK, so it is a problem with some themes and not others. In particular with
> gtk-qt. However, if the problem really is with the theme, why is it
> that the next/previous buttons are OK, and only the back/forward
> buttons don't look right. Perhaps whatever changes to next/previous
> could also be applied to forward/back so that they also look OK in all
> themes. 

The difference is that next/previous are not Gtk+ stock icons (i.e. defined by 
the theme), but forward/back are.  Gtk+ handles RTL/LTR by itself when stock 
icons are used, but only if the theme supplies that information.

So in theory we should ask Gtk+ if RTL is used, and if so, does the stock 
icons have any RTL information?  Unfortunately, the Gtk+ API does not give us 
access to RTL information for individual themed icons.  So sometimes Gtk+ does 
the right thing, sometimes it does not, depending on the theme used.

We could "untheme" forward/back, but that would be too drastic.  The best I 
can think of for your situation is to

a) file a bug report on the theme you are using.  The root cuase is there.

b) As a workaround, you can "untheme" forward/back by customizing 
x-gtk-stock-map (M-x customize-variable<RET>x-gtk-stock-map<RET>).
Delete the rows for etc/images/left-arrow and etc/images/right-arrow.  The 
downside is that forward/back are now not themed.  But all themes will be 
correct RTL-wise.

c) You can also swap icons in x-gtk-stock-map, so you map 
etc/images/left-arrow to gtk-go-forward and etc/images/right-arrow to 
gtk-go-back.  But remember that you did this if you change theme or your theme 
is fixed so that it supplies RTL information.

> > Well, it would look like a "normal" tool bar, like the one you get with 
> > locale "C".
>
> So the menu bar would the RTL, but the toolbar would be LTR? That's a
> bit wiered, but I guess better than the current situation. 

Emacs 22 and emacs CVS HEAD now behave the same in this regard, so forcing LTR 
is not an option anymore.

        Jan D.