🚀 go-pugleaf

>They currently use environment variables (e.g. "LANG") for "file
>typing".  This is how they can use the same "vi" binary in both Japan
>and Germany.

Actually, if they use the same "vi" binary in Japan, Germany, *and* the
US, they don't do Japanese EUC, because the "vi" that comes with SunOS
4.1[.x] is derived from the SVR3.1 one, which only does 8-bit character
sets.  They may have a "vi" that does 16-bit character sets as part of
Asian localization kits, and maybe the SVR4 "vi" that I assume comes
with SunOS 5.x handles 16-bit character sets.

The 4.1[.x] character-set handling stuff is set up to handle multiple
types of character sets, not just EUC, and that may be the way they
handle Unicode/UTF as well - depending on the setting of LANG, it'll do
ISO 8859/1, or 8859/n, or Japanese EUC, or Unicode/UTF, or....

They may also supply a program or programs to turn "plain text" files in
those character sets into UTF files, and to do the same with directories
(i.e., renaming files so that a file with a non-ASCII name in the
character set in question gets a new name that's the same name in UTF,
and possibly also fixing symbolic links).

Or they may do something else.