Bug#318923: utf-8 option for xterm does not work anymore

[Jan Willem Stumpel <jstumpel@planet.nl>]

Package: xterm
Version: 6.8.2.dfsg.1-2
Followup-For: Bug #318923


Apparently it is no longer possible to start xterm in UTF-8 mode by default by
setting 

   xterm*VT100*utf8:

in /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm or in ~/.Xresources. Even if a UTF-8 capable
font is present, display of non-ASCII chars is mangled (e.g. a "degree"
sign, which is hex c2 b0 in UTF-8, is displayed as A-circumflex followed by
a degree sign). To get proper UTF-8 display back, you have to do
CTRL-RightClick, then select UTF-8 from the pop-up menu. But it should be
possible to set this as default by using xterm*VT100*utf8: .

As the OP said, this throws us back into "localization hell" (from which I
was so glad to have escaped by changing to UTF-8...) 

Extra data point: I tried to preserve my own /etc/X11/app-defaults XTerm and
XTerm-color files during upgrade. There is now an
/etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm-color.dpkg-dist file, but no
/etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm.dpkg-dist. MAybe something went wrong during the
processing of /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm. But of course I don't know.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.4.25
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages xterm depends on:
ii  libc6                     2.3.2.ds1-22   GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libexpat1                 1.95.8-3       XML parsing C library - runtime li
ii  libfontconfig1            2.3.2-1        generic font configuration library
ii  libfreetype6              2.1.10-1       FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  libice6                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  libncurses5               5.4-8          Shared libraries for terminal hand
ii  libsm6                    6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System Session Management
ii  libxaw8                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Athena widget set library
ii  libxext6                  6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii  libxft2                   2.1.7-1        FreeType-based font drawing librar
ii  libxmu6                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System miscellaneous util
ii  libxp6                    6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System printing extension
ii  libxpm4                   6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X pixmap library
ii  libxrender1               1:0.9.0-2      X Rendering Extension client libra
ii  libxt6                    6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Toolkit Intrinsics
ii  xlibs                     6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System client libraries m
ii  xlibs-data                6.8.2.dfsg.1-2 X Window System client data

Versions of packages xterm recommends:
ii  xutils                   4.3.0.dfsg.1-14 X Window System utility programs

-- no debconf information