Bug#408528: iceape-browser: Indic scripts not rendered properly

[Jan Willem Stumpel]

Mike Hommey wrote:
> Okay, so I gave it a try[1], and... see no difference between
> CTL enabled or not. And seeing the code involving the ctl
> component, it seems to be used for the selection only... In
> this light, I'm not sure it's really worth enabling...
> 
> Mike
> 
> 1. That was a bit more than adding --enable-ctl. There are some
> issues with -Wl,--as-needed and hidden symbols that need to be
> solved first.

I do not know about the technical aspects. It is just that the
Wikipedia page I mentioned is a good test. On Debian the display
is clearly not correct, but on Windows (XP with Firefox) it is. On
Windows, CTL _printing_ is also OK.

A few months ago, even on Debian Sid, Firefox 1.5 could display
CTL correctly (but not print it). Now, Iceweasel/Iceape can
neither display nor print it.

However it is done, it seems that this CTL capability has to be
enabled somehow, if Debian wants to retain the interest of Indian
users. Perhaps it involves more than --enable-ctl, I don't know.
But --disable-ctl definitely seems a step in the wrong direction.
According to Wikipedia there are Linux distributions in which it
does work. Somebody must know how it is done.

It is somewhat like the problem that exists with MATHML (although
more serious, because MATHML can at least be _displayed_ in
Debian).  MATHML can be displayed and printed in Windows, and
(reportedly) in Fedora. I cannot test this myself; the Fedora
firefox binaries do not run on Debian (glibc incompatibility). But
MATHML cannot be printed on Debian.

Regards, Jan