bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[wyousef]

I use "dired" mode; some file and directory names are in Arabic. I did
not have any problem. All of the sudden, just few days ago (probably
after an update), the Arabic names of the files and directory are shown
as garbage.



In GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.20.6)
 of 2016-06-04 on juergen
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11803000
Configured using:
 `configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --libexecdir=/usr/lib
 --localstatedir=/var --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 --with-xft
 'CFLAGS=-march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -O2 -pipe
 -fstack-protector-strong' CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2
 LDFLAGS=-Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro'

Important settings:
  locale-coding-system: nil

Major mode: Dired/name

Minor modes in effect:
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  auto-revert-mode: t
  openwith-mode: t
  dired-async-mode: t
  ido-grid-mode: t
  ido-everywhere: t
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  delete-selection-mode: t
  smartparens-global-mode: t
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  show-paren-mode: t
  guide-key-mode: t
  pdf-occur-dired-minor-mode: t
  pdf-occur-global-minor-mode: t
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  image-diredx-async-mode: t
  dired-hide-details-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  electric-indent-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  buffer-read-only: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent messages:
Loading /home/wyousef/.emacs.d/loadpath/pdftools.el (source)...done
Loading /home/wyousef/.emacs.d/loadpath/eimp.el (source)...done
Loading /home/wyousef/.emacs.d/loadpath/init-smartparens.el (source)...done
Loading /home/wyousef/Downloads/AAProgramsAA/sage-7.0/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/sage-mode/sage-load.el (source)...done
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.

Load-path shadows:
~/.emacs.d/loadpath/ps-mule hides /usr/share/emacs/24.5/lisp/ps-mule
~/.emacs.d/loadpath/subr-x hides /usr/share/emacs/24.5/lisp/emacs-lisp/subr-x

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bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: wyousef@fcih.net
> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 00:02:17 +0000
> 
> I use "dired" mode; some file and directory names are in Arabic. I did
> not have any problem. All of the sudden, just few days ago (probably
> after an update), the Arabic names of the files and directory are shown
> as garbage.

Please tell more: what was that update, what kind of garbage do you
see, what is the value of default-file-name-coding-system?

Thanks.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
> Cc: 23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 18:35:01 +0000
> 
> I do not know the update; I am just guessing. Attached is a snapshot of
> the problem. I tried set-buffer-file-coding-system with no hope!

Does it help to visit this file with

   C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 655 bytes --]

Thanks so much for reply,

I do not know the update; I am just guessing. Attached is a snapshot of
the problem. I tried set-buffer-file-coding-system with no hope!

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: wyousef@fcih.net
>> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 00:02:17 +0000
>> 
>> I use "dired" mode; some file and directory names are in Arabic. I did
>> not have any problem. All of the sudden, just few days ago (probably
>> after an update), the Arabic names of the files and directory are shown
>> as garbage.
>
> Please tell more: what was that update, what kind of garbage do you
> see, what is the value of default-file-name-coding-system?
>
> Thanks.

[-- Attachment #2: 2016-06-07--18.12.15.png --]
[-- Type: image/png, Size: 102419 bytes --]

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Does it help to visit this file with
>
>    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET

Should one have to do that with dired buffers?

The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

Thanks so much for both of you;

Yes it helps and resolves the problem to visit the directory with what
you said:
C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET


However:

1- why this happened; I just had this problem 2 days ago!!
2- what should I do to resolve it permenantly?


Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>
>> Does it help to visit this file with
>>
>>    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET
>
> Should one have to do that with dired buffers?
>
> The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
> locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Cc: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:45:08 -0400
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > Does it help to visit this file with
> >
> >    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET
> 
> Should one have to do that with dired buffers?

No.  It was part of diagnosing the problem.

> The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
> locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?

Probably, but I have no idea how that could happen.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
> Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 00:10:34 +0000
> 
> 1- why this happened; I just had this problem 2 days ago!!

I don't know.  Somehow your locale- and language-related system
settings have changed.  You will have to review the changes to your
system, both inside and outside of Emacs.

> 2- what should I do to resolve it permenantly?

Put this into your ~/.emacs:

  (setq file-name-coding-system 'utf-8)

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

Thanks so much; done!!

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
>> Cc: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
>> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:45:08 -0400
>> 
>> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> 
>> > Does it help to visit this file with
>> >
>> >    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET
>> 
>> Should one have to do that with dired buffers?
>
> No.  It was part of diagnosing the problem.
>
>> The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
>> locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?
>
> Probably, but I have no idea how that could happen.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
> Cc: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 14:23:21 +0000
> 
> A third problem is that the Arabic file names do not show up in the ido
> mode; all these problems are new!!

You need to fix your locale setup, most probably outside of Emacs.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

But another problem existed, when I try to copy one of those Arabic name
files using dired (Shift C) it gives me the following error:

Error: Thu Jun  9 14:09:50 2016	Buffer `*scratch*'
file-error: (Opening input file No such file or directory FILENAME



Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net> writes:

> Thanks so much; done!!
>
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
>>> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
>>> Cc: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
>>> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:45:08 -0400
>>> 
>>> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>>> 
>>> > Does it help to visit this file with
>>> >
>>> >    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET
>>> 
>>> Should one have to do that with dired buffers?
>>
>> No.  It was part of diagnosing the problem.
>>
>>> The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
>>> locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?
>>
>> Probably, but I have no idea how that could happen.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

A third problem is that the Arabic file names do not show up in the ido
mode; all these problems are new!!

Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net> writes:

> But another problem existed, when I try to copy one of those Arabic name
> files using dired (Shift C) it gives me the following error:
>
> Error: Thu Jun  9 14:09:50 2016	Buffer `*scratch*'
> file-error: (Opening input file No such file or directory FILENAME
>
>
>
> Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net> writes:
>
>> Thanks so much; done!!
>>
>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>>
>>>> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
>>>> Cc: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
>>>> Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2016 16:45:08 -0400
>>>> 
>>>> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> > Does it help to visit this file with
>>>> >
>>>> >    C-x RET c utf-8 RET C-x C-f FILE-NAME RET
>>>> 
>>>> Should one have to do that with dired buffers?
>>>
>>> No.  It was part of diagnosing the problem.
>>>
>>>> The original report indicates that LANG etc are all unset, and
>>>> locale-coding-system = nil. Relevant?
>>>
>>> Probably, but I have no idea how that could happen.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
> Cc: rgm@gnu.org,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 16:53:26 +0000
> 
> 
> Do you have any advice?

Start by typing these two commands from the shell prompt:

 $ locale
 $ locale -a

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

Do you have any advice?

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
>> Cc: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
>> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 14:23:21 +0000
>> 
>> A third problem is that the Arabic file names do not show up in the ido
>> mode; all these problems are new!!
>
> You need to fix your locale setup, most probably outside of Emacs.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
> Cc: rgm@gnu.org,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 17:33:22 +0000
> 
> Thanks so much for your patience:
> 
> $ locale
> LANG=
> LC_CTYPE="POSIX"
> LC_NUMERIC="POSIX"
> LC_TIME="POSIX"
> LC_COLLATE="POSIX"
> LC_MONETARY="POSIX"
> LC_MESSAGES="POSIX"
> LC_PAPER="POSIX"
> LC_NAME="POSIX"
> LC_ADDRESS="POSIX"
> LC_TELEPHONE="POSIX"
> LC_MEASUREMENT="POSIX"
> LC_IDENTIFICATION="POSIX"
> LC_ALL=

That's your problem: you are in the POSIX locale, which is not
appropriate for your environment.  I don't know how, but you need to
reconfigure your system to something like en_US.utf8.

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> That's your problem: you are in the POSIX locale, which is not
> appropriate for your environment.  I don't know how, but you need to
> reconfigure your system to something like en_US.utf8.

OP should search for eg "Fedora change locale", replacing Fedora with
name of distribution in use. Then read the docs, eg

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/22/html/System_Administrators_Guide/ch-System_Locale_and_Keyboard_Configuration.html

localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.utf8

https://wiki.debian.org/Locale

dpkg-reconfigure locales

etc

bug#23722: 24.5; Problem of displaying arabic font in dired mode

[Waleed Yousef]

Thanks so much for your patience:

$ locale
LANG=
LC_CTYPE="POSIX"
LC_NUMERIC="POSIX"
LC_TIME="POSIX"
LC_COLLATE="POSIX"
LC_MONETARY="POSIX"
LC_MESSAGES="POSIX"
LC_PAPER="POSIX"
LC_NAME="POSIX"
LC_ADDRESS="POSIX"
LC_TELEPHONE="POSIX"
LC_MEASUREMENT="POSIX"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="POSIX"
LC_ALL=

$ locale -a
C
POSIX
en_US
en_US.iso88591
en_US.utf8


Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Waleed Yousef <wyousef@fcih.net>
>> Cc: rgm@gnu.org,  23722@debbugs.gnu.org
>> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2016 16:53:26 +0000
>> 
>> 
>> Do you have any advice?
>
> Start by typing these two commands from the shell prompt:
>
>  $ locale
>  $ locale -a