[Suppress-Script] Initial list of 300 languages

McDonald, Ira imcdonald at sharplabs.com
Tue Mar 14 18:18:48 CET 2006


Hi Peter,

Umm - all existing network printers are going to fail to
"do something reasonable" if you send them ANY language
tag that includes a script subtag - because they don't
have parsers to take it apart - so they'll fall back to
the administrator/manufacturer configured default document
language.  This applies BOTH to external tags (in print
protocols) and internal tags (in print datastreams, like
PostScript or XML instance documents).

Script subtags are important, but they're new - existing
software (in the firmware of printers or spoolers or file
systems or client applications) won't know what to do with
them - and existing matching algorithms will often fail.

None of which should be surprising to anyone.

Cheers,
- Ira

Ira McDonald (Musician / Software Architect)
Blue Roof Music / High North Inc
PO Box 221  Grand Marais, MI  49839
phone: +1-906-494-2434
email: imcdonald at sharplabs.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no
> [mailto:ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no]On Behalf Of Peter
> Constable
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 11:02 AM
> To: ietf-languages at iana.org
> Subject: RE: [Suppress-Script] Initial list of 300 languages
> 
> 
> > From: John Cowan [mailto:cowan at ccil.org]
> 
> 
> > > As much as the discussion of manuscripts and the meaning 
> of "Latg" may
> > > be interesting, haven't we lost sight of what's actually 
> needed? Isn't
> > > it the case that we only need a suppress-script tag for something
> > > like sga if that lang ID has been commonly used with a 
> country ID --
> > > e.g. sga-IE? Somehow I think that's not the case for sga or mga.
> > 
> > I think so too.  But unfortunately, absence of evidence is 
> not evidence of
> > absence, and -- given the grave consequences of being wrong 
> -- I think we
> > have
> > to assume that if a possibility exists it has been used.
> 
> So just how many network printers and email agents are going 
> to fail to do something reasonable if sga-Latg-IE or 
> mga-Latg-IE are encountered? 
> 
> IMO, we're worrying over nothing. Suppress script was added 
> because of really high risk cases, like en-US and fr-FR, not 
> really marginal cases like sga-IE.
> 
> 
> 
> Peter Constable
> _______________________________________________
> Ietf-languages mailing list
> Ietf-languages at alvestrand.no
> http://www.alvestrand.no/mailman/listinfo/ietf-languages
> 


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