MULE
Encyclopedia
MULE is the MULtilingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs.
MULE provides facilities not only for handling text written in many different languages (at least 42 character sets, 53 coding sets, 128 input methods, and 58 languages), but in fact multilingual texts containing several languages in the same buffer. This goes beyond the simple facilities offered by Unicode
for representation of multilingual text. MULE also supports input methods, composing display using fonts in various encodings, changing character syntax and other editing facilities to correspond to local language usage, and more.
MULE was originally based on Nemacs, a version of Emacs extended to handle Japanese
, released in 1987. Development stalled, and the effort to incorporate increased language functionality into the main Emacs version stalled, until the fork
between Lucid Inc.
and the FSF
led to XEmacs
, which for several years boasted considerably better support for multiple languages and character sets. This competition reinvigorated development of GNU Emacs's language handling capabilities and prompted the inclusion of MULE in version 21 of GNU Emacs.
MULE was written by the researchers Satoru Tomura, Ken'ichi Handa, Mikiko Nishikimi, and Naoto Takahashi, of the AIST
, which is a part of METI, of the government of Japan
. This made it impossible for the developers to assign copyright to FSF, as is usually done for contributions to GNU packages.
MULE provides facilities not only for handling text written in many different languages (at least 42 character sets, 53 coding sets, 128 input methods, and 58 languages), but in fact multilingual texts containing several languages in the same buffer. This goes beyond the simple facilities offered by Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
for representation of multilingual text. MULE also supports input methods, composing display using fonts in various encodings, changing character syntax and other editing facilities to correspond to local language usage, and more.
MULE was originally based on Nemacs, a version of Emacs extended to handle Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, released in 1987. Development stalled, and the effort to incorporate increased language functionality into the main Emacs version stalled, until the fork
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
between Lucid Inc.
Lucid Inc.
Lucid Incorporated was a software development company founded by Richard P. Gabriel in 1984 which went bankrupt in 1994.-Beginnings:Gabriel had been working for Lawrence Livermore National Labs on a computer hardware project called "S1", the first incarnation of which used a CISC processor...
and the FSF
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
led to XEmacs
XEmacs
XEmacs is a graphical- and console-based text editor which runs on almost any Unix-like operating system as well as Microsoft Windows. XEmacs is a fork, based on a version of GNU Emacs from the late 1980s...
, which for several years boasted considerably better support for multiple languages and character sets. This competition reinvigorated development of GNU Emacs's language handling capabilities and prompted the inclusion of MULE in version 21 of GNU Emacs.
MULE was written by the researchers Satoru Tomura, Ken'ichi Handa, Mikiko Nishikimi, and Naoto Takahashi, of the AIST
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
The , or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge to address socio-economic needs...
, which is a part of METI, of the government of Japan
Government of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
. This made it impossible for the developers to assign copyright to FSF, as is usually done for contributions to GNU packages.