http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=514729

thundergnat has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

A script I have written that makes heavy use of Unicode character and block name properties relies on the auto-generated Name.pl and Blocks.pl scripts in the Perl/lib/unicore/ directory. Unfortunately, as of Perl 5.8.5, the Blocks.pl script is no longer generated for no apparent reason that I can find. The mktables script in Perl 5.8.5, 5.8.6 and 5.8.7 all build the Blocks.pl script, but they never actually write it. (The line is commented out.)

Compare 5.8.4 mktables to 5.8.5 mktables. Notice the file->Write line is commented out in 5.8.5.

5.8.4 $Blocks->Write("Blocks.pl"); 5.8.5 # $Blocks->Write("Blocks.pl");

I can find no reference in the change log about why this is. There is nothing about Blocks.pl being depricated. There IS some commentary in Blocks about Unicode Blocks and the newer, superior, Unicode Scripts, but there is no indication that Blocks.pl is no longer available. Interestingly enough, mktables has the file->Write line for Scripts.pl commented out too, so I couldn't use that either. In fact,

# $Bidi->Write("Bidirectional.pl"); # $Number->Write("Number.pl"); # $General->Write("Category.pl"); # $Lbrk->Write("Lbrk.pl"); # $ArabLink->Write("ArabLink.pl"); # $ArabLinkGroup->Write("ArabLnkGrp.pl"); # $Short->Write("JamoShort.pl"); # $Scripts->Write("Scripts.pl"); # $Blocks->Write("Blocks.pl");

are ALL commented out for no given reason.

Am I missing something? Is there a notice somewhere about not having any of those available anymore? Uncommenting the commented out lines and re-running mktables generates everything without detectable error. While that is fine for me locally, it becomes problematic for scripts that I am planning to distribute.

For a demo script showing WHY I really want to have access to Blocks.pl and Name.pl see my scratchpad. (You may need to uncomment the Blocks line in mktables and run it before this will work, and you will probably need at least one font installed that has good Unicode coverage.)

2005-12-07 Retitled by holli, as per Monastery guidelines from Some unicore scripts no longer auto-generated?
Original title: 'Some unicore scripts no longer auto-generated?'

2005-12-07 Retitled by holli, as per Monastery guidelines
Original title: 'Some unicode scripts no longer auto-generated?'