Troubleshoot user workstations in Unicode installations

To prevent file corruption, it is essential that you configure your workstation correctly. The following section describes common problems and provides solutions.

  • "Cannot Translate" error message

    This message is displayed if your workstation is configured with a character set that does not include characters that are being sent to it by the Helix Server. Your workstation cannot display unmapped characters. For example, if P4CHARSET is set to shiftjis and your depot contains files named using characters from the Japanese EUC character set that do not have mappings in shift-JIS, you see the "Cannot translate" error message when you list the files by issuing the p4 files command.

    To ensure correct translation, do not use unmappable characters in Helix Server user specifications, client specifications, jobs, or file names.

  • Strange display of file content

    If you attempt to display an extended-character text file and see odd-looking text, your workstation might lack the font required to display the characters in the file. Typical symptoms of this problem include the display of question marks or boxes in place of characters. To solve this problem, install the required font.