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5.2.0 Unicode Standard Annexes (proposed updates)
UAX #9: The Bidirectional Algorithm
UAX #11: East Asian Width
UAX #14: Line Breaking Properties
UAX #15: Unicode Normalization Forms
UAX #24: Script Names
UAX #29: Text Boundaries
UAX #31: Identifier and Pattern Syntax
UAX #34: Unicode Named Character Sequences
UAX #38: Unicode Han Database (Unihan)
UAX #41: Common References for Unicode Standard Annexes
UAX #42: An XML Representation of the UCD
UAX #44: Unicode Character Database
The Standard
Versions of the Unicode Standard
Unicode 5.1.0
Unicode 5.0.0

BETA Unicode 5.2.0

The next version of the Unicode Standard will be Version 5.2.0. The beta version of the summary for Unicode 5.2.0 is located at:

http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode5.2.0/

This version is planned for release in October 2009. A beta version of the 5.2.0 Unicode Character Database files is also available for public comment. We strongly encourage implementers to download these files and test them with their programs, well before the end of the beta period. These files are located in:

http://www.unicode.org/Public/5.2.0/ or
ftp://www.unicode.org/Public/5.2.0/

Draft code charts are also available for beta review. Please check the code charts carefully to verify correctness of the new characters added to Unicode 5.2 and to ensure that there are no regressions for previously encoded characters. The draft code charts are located in:

http://www.unicode.org/Public/5.2.0/charts/ or
ftp://www.unicode.org/Public/5.2.0/charts/

For guidance on how to focus your review, see the section Notable Issues for Beta Testers below.

Any comments on the beta Unicode 5.2.0, the UCD 5.2.0, or the 5.2.0 UAXes should be reported using the Unicode reporting form. The comment period ended August 3, 2009. All substantive comments must have been received by that date for consideration at the August UTC meeting. Editorial comments (typos, etc.) may be still submitted after that date for consideration in the final editorial work.

Note: All beta files may be updated, replaced, or superseded by other files at any time. The beta files will be discarded once Unicode 5.2.0 is final. It is inappropriate to cite these files as other than a work in progress. No products or implementations should be released based on the beta UCD data files -- use only the final, approved Version 5.2.0 data files, expected in October 2009.

The Unicode Consortium provides early access to updated versions of the data files and text to give reviewers and developers as much time as possible to ensure a problem-free adoption of Version 5.2.0.

The assignment of characters for Unicode 5.2.0 is now stable. There will be no further additions or modifications of code points.

One of the main purposes of the beta review period, however, is to verify and correct the preliminary character property assignments in the Unicode Character Database. Reviewers should check for property changes to existing Unicode 5.1.0 characters, as well as the property values for the new Unicode 5.2.0 character additions. To facilitate verification of the property changes and additions, diffable XML versions of the Unicode Character Database are available. These XML files are dated, so that people can check the details of changes that occurred during the beta review period. The XML files are in the http://www.unicode.org/Public/5.2.0/diffs/ directory. For more information, see the diffs.readme.txt file.

The beta review period is a good opportunity to add support for the new Unicode 5.2.0 characters in internal versions of software, so that software can be tested to verify that the new characters and property assignments don't cause problems when upgraded to Version 5.2.0 of Unicode.

Notable Issues for Beta Testers

All Unicode Standard Annexes are being modified in Unicode 5.2.0, and often in coordination with changes in properties. To see the current proposed updates to the particular UAXes, see Proposed Updates for Standard Annexes. Particular issues in the UAXes are also the focus of specific Public Review Issues. Each proposed change in a UAX is highlighted, so that you can focus your review on those sections if you have limited time. The changes are also listed in each Modifications section (linked from the table of contents), so you can check on those areas that might be of most interest. Some links between beta documents and the proposed updates for UAXes will not work correctly during the beta review period. This is a known problem which does not need to be reported, as such links are links to the eventual final names or revision numbers for the released versions.

The documentation for the UCD has been consolidated into the Proposed Update for UAX #44. Please review this carefully; there have been extensive changes involved in this consolidation.

Please check the following carefully:

  • There is a new BidiTest file with test cases for assessing conformance to the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm. The format and data need careful review.
  • There are three new characters in the newly-encoded Kaithi script that will require changes in implementations which make hard-coded assumptions about composition during normalization. Most new characters added to the standard with decompositions cannot be generated by the operations toNFC() or toNFKC(), but these three can. Implementers should check their code carefully to ensure that it handles these three characters correctly.
    • U+1109A KAITHI LETTER DDDHA
    • U+1109C KAITHI LETTER RHA
    • U+110AB KAITHI LETTER VA
  • Any hard-coded range assumptions about Unified CJK Ideographs in implementations may need fixing, because the end range for those has changed from U+9FC3 to U+9FCB in this version. There is also an entirely new block of CJK Unified Ideographs: CJK Unified Ideographs Extension C (U+2A700..U+2B73F), with characters encoded in the range U+2A700 to U+2B734.
  • There is now an assigned Hangul jamo character at U+11A7. This may interfere with some implementations' boundary testing for Hangul decomposition.
  • There are new case-related properties in DerivedCoreProperties.txt and DerivedNormalizationProps.txt that should be reviewed carefully. The new case-related derived properties are NFKC_Casefold, Case_Ignorable, Cased, Changes_When_Lowercased, Changes_When_Uppercased, Changes_When_Titlecased, Changes_When_Casemapped, Changes_When_Casefolded, and Changes_When_NFKC_Casefolded.
  • New uppercase parenthesized symbols have been added. Unlike the circled letter symbols, there are no uppercase/lowercase relationships for these new characters, to match the existing treatment of the lowercase parenthesized letter symbols.
  • Contributory is considered to be a distinct status for a Unicode character property. Contributory properties are neither normative nor informative. This distinct status is marked in the property table.
  • Two new joining groups, FARSI YEH and NYA, were added.
  • There is a new file, CJKRadicals.txt . Unlike other files, the first field is not a code point number.
  • The Unihan.txt file in Unihan.zip is split into 8 separate files within the zip file, organized by category. See the Proposed Update for UAX #38 for details.