[sword-devel] Windows ntfs utf16 file or path name issue

[Greg Hellings]

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 1:42 PM, Jonathan Marsden <jmarsden at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
>
>> Xiphos has patched the Sword library to handle all utf16 pathnames
>> correctly on Windows. I reproduced this with BibleTime on Windows, so it's
>> not Xiphos alone. Greg Hellings told he doesn't want to release BT on
>> Windows before this issue has been solved in library level without patching.
>> What should we do?
>
> I'm an outsider in some ways, but my suggested next steps would be:
>
> (1) Try to duplicate the issue using just the library and diatheke (so it is
> clearly not dependent only any application outside of SWORD code provided by
> CrossWire itself).

I'm not aware of a diatheke build for Windows, but it would not be
difficult to replicate the issue: create a method that initializes an
instance of SWMgr that points it to modules that are on an NTFS drive
under a file with non-isoLatin characters in it.  Try to open that
path and you should find, at best, it fails to open it and at worst it
might produce more esoteric errors.  I haven't written this myself,
but the original reporters have worked with Troy and the issue is
known.

>
> (2) Submit a bug report to the SWORD Jira bugtracker.  Include a clear step
> by step description of how to reproduce the issue, preferably on a US
> English version of Windows XP (if it needs an international Windows OS
> version to trigger the problem, it will be hard for many of us to work on
> it).

It has already been made known and described.  I don't know if it's in
Jira, although I doubt it.

>
> (3) Attach the patch that fixes the issue to the bug report.  Ideally, make
> sure the patch applies cleanly to either SWORD 1.6.0RC1 or SWORD svn head.

The only current patch relies on GLib and therefore is not applicable
to SWORD.  Troy knows how he wants to solve the issue without relying
on GLib (using Unicode-based Windows system calls in Windows).

>
> (4) Test the patched library to make sure the patch does not introduce any
> regressions, both on Windows and on other platforms.  Document what testing
> has been done in the bug tracker.

Done for the Xiphos version.  However, it is this testing that is
holding up Troy from making the change in HEAD/1.6.  He wants 1.6
final released "last month" and this would, of course, take more
testing.  So he wants to delay the change until 1.6 goes final and we
branch 1.6 from HEAD.  Then it can be part of the rapid-fire release
of the 1.6 branch after a few weeks while new features are going into
HEAD.

>
> (5) Here on sword-devel, point to the bug tracker item and ask the SWORD
> library developers to please get your patch into the official library
> sources for SWORD 1.6.0 :)

It's already pretty well known around this list.  The real issue is
just getting it into the library after 1.6.0, getting it tested by the
Xiphos team, BibleTime, BibleCS and any other Windows applications
that rely on the C++ library.  I think Eeli was trying to get Troy's
confirmation on the above information, because I don't recall hearing
Troy state on the list that the above is his plan.  I'm just relaying
what he told me in IRC the other day.

--Greg

>
> Jonathan
>
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