Babel invoke inputenc where inputenc is not designed for xetex or luatex

[David Carlisle]

in texlive 20204 (and probably all earlier versions)
any use of \usepackage[arabic]{babel}  will raise errors with
lualatex or xelatex as the arabi package files are not in UTF-8
You should raise this with the arabi package maintainer.

with lualatex:

(/usr/local/texlive/2024/texmf-dist/tex/latex/arabi/arabicore.sty
  Arabi Core switching commands v1.0  2006/01/01   (may still change)
! String contains an invalid utf-8 sequence.
l.137 \ifcase#1\or
                 ��������� � \ \or �����������^^@�^^@^^@

xelatex recovers from that but then errors on

! Package inputenc Error: inputenc is not designed for xetex or luatex.
(inputenc)                only UTF-8 supported.




I _think_ the recommended way to specify the language these days is

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{babel}
\babelprovide{arabic}

\begin{document}

x
\end{document}

which allows babel to keep control.


On Sun, 12 May 2024 at 14:31, outlook user <RACP at outlook.fr> wrote:

> > (inputenc)                only UTF-8 supported.
> >
> > See the inputenc package documentation for explanation.
> > Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
> >  ...
> >
> > l.164 \endinput
>
> > For xelatex or lualatex save the document in UTF-8 encoding
> > and do not use inputenc, or use the [utf8] option.
>
> On version 1.16.0 from TeX Live distribution version 2023 using LUALaTeX
> 2023.8.28. It appears when `\usepackage{babel}` is modified to
> `\usepackage[arabic]{babel}`
>
> >From what I understand LUATeX use by default UTF-8 and using inputenc
> will conflict with it because it tries to re-define the encoding which is
> locked in LUA/Xe, so will end up in a "crash". So Babel (or whatever invoke
> it) shouldn't do it (I think it tries to use cp1256 here, despite not
> asking for it) when not using PDFTeX (or whatever needs it), like on that
> case. And worse, some calls takes priority so re-using inputenc to ask for
> UTF-8 won't correct the problem because it takes the first call only
>
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