Debian m17n method under X with UTF-8

[Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>]

Hi folks,

How are you making Debian into UTF-8 and multilingual/multi-locale
system while switching between normal gnome and Xfce? So far, I did not
find this trivial.

For now, I made a proof of concept package with simple shell scripts to
create my desired environment by heavily using Debian menu system.  I
packaged these experimental scripts as "m17n-env" and put them at:

   deb http://people.debian.org/~osamu/package/ ./
   deb-src http://people.debian.org/~osamu/package/ ./

With this script and GDM, I have access to all the locales on my system
with BASH and VIM while having easy switch over between Gnome and Xfce.
Use customizable X start up feature with hooks to run ~/.xsession.d/*
scripts is provided too.

Also this script is much less invasive than previous attempts to play
with locales. (No change to .bashrc nor .bash_profile) 

(IM "Input method" scripts are not filly functional nor tested yet.)

I really appreciate your suggestion for achieving similar with ease or
bug fixes to this package.

Osamu
==========================================================================
My thought backgrounds:

Is there any helper script which activates X system with easily
selectable primary language environment in UTF-8 encoded locale while
maintaining easy access to all the locales on the system? Then my wish
list grew:
 * I as normal user should be able to switch Gnome, Xfce, blackbox easily 
   through GDM.  (So I should not customize through ~/.xsession)
 * I as normal user should be able to start several programs
   consistently across desktop environment.

Few facts:
* Debian packages are well internationalized (i18n).
  - Many newer Gnome/KDE are already UTF-8 encoding compatible

* Localization (l10n) helper scripts in archive seems to use primarily
  the non-UTF-8 encoding:
  - locale-env            (CJK focus)
  - localization-config   (Northern Europe focus)
  >> Both change user configuration invasively for single language
     which is not UTF-8.

* UTF-8 conversion of current Debian is documented in:
    http://melkor.dnp.fmph.uniba.sk/~garabik/debian-utf8/HOWTO/howto.html

* GDM has nice and easy access to locale selection before starting X
  Defaults lists non UTF-8 and too busy.

* There are few key programs which does not behave well under UTF-8:
    mc, ... (Debian menu does not start these right under ja_JP.UTF-8 .)

Osamu

PS: aptitude seems to ignore CJK locales now.  So the menu change for 
aptitude may not be have been needed.
-- 
~\^o^/~~~ ~\^.^/~~~ ~\^*^/~~~ ~\^_^/~~~ ~\^+^/~~~ ~\^:^/~~~ ~\^v^/~~~ +++++
        Osamu Aoki <osamu@debian.org>  Brussels Belgium, GPG-key: A8061F32
 .''`.  Debian Reference: post-installation user's guide for non-developers
 : :' : http://qref.sf.net and http://people.debian.org/~osamu
 `. `'  "Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software" --- Social Contract