User Dictionary not working in WinXP SP3

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Launch Firefox, go to User Dictionary dialog
1. add entries to user dictionary
2. press update/ok

What is the expected output? 
New furigana_inserter_user_dictionary.dic file should be compiled from changed 
csv/txt files, making the changes available for the next translation.

What do you see instead?
csv/txt files are getting updated with the new data, but no new .dic file is 
being created - rendering the User Dictionary feature unusable. Unfortunately, 
the DOS box with the (I assume) mecab-dict-index.exe call closes so fast that I 
cannot see any potential error message.

What version of the product are you using?
- XPSp3, Furigana Inserter 1.2.4 on Firefox 3.6.13 (problem occurs)
- XPSp3, Furigana Inserter 2.0.13 on Firefox 8.0 (problem occurs)

What Operating System are you using?
The involved operating system is a fully Japanese Windows XP, Service Pack 3. 
(running as a virtual machine in my Win7) I'm using the Inserter as a tool for 
machine-assisted visual novel reading. Seeing as many Japanese games require a 
fully Japanese OS, and many older ones need XP, I have added this virtual 
machine to my rig long ago.

Please provide any additional information below:
This problem is actually pretty old (has never worked as far as I can remember) 
and only seems to occur in the WinXP context. I'm also using the Inserter on 
Win7 (1.2.4 with a Firefox 3.6.15) in parallel, and compiling the .dic file 
works normally there. Other interaction in WinXP works normally. mecab098 and 
ruby are installed properly.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by v.i0487....@googlemail.com on 13 Nov 2011 at 4:53

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the bug report. It's hard to say what's wrong. What is the path to 
the Fx profile folder? In "about:support" you can click on a button to show the 
profile folder.

Original comment by zorkz...@hotmail.com on 14 Nov 2011 at 7:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am using a Firefox Portable within the WinXP Virtual Machine. 
The FF folder is located on the desktop level, so the profile folder path would 
be:

C:¥Documents and Settings¥XPMuser¥デスクトップ¥FFP¥Data¥Profile

Hm, now that I type it... the Katakana segment might screw up the call for 
mecab-dict-index.exe. Since the FF is portable anyway, I can try placing it 
somewhere else for experiment's sake. Will try that later when I get home.

Original comment by v.i0487....@googlemail.com on 15 Nov 2011 at 1:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Confirmed.

Generation of .dic file now works normally even in WinXP after I moved the FF 
to 
C:\FFP\ 
rather than the previously used
C:\Documents and Settings\XPMuser\デスクトップ\FFP\

So it is really the Katakana string in the path that screws up the 
mecab-dict-index call. No idea if the call fails or mecab-dict-index itself has 
a problem running within such a path... if the latter is true, then it might be 
a good idea to add a short remark in the troubleshooting section about this.

Best Regards! 

Original comment by v.i0487....@googlemail.com on 15 Nov 2011 at 5:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I tried using the runw method which supports Unicode, but it didn't work. It 
seems that MeCab 0.98 simply doesn't support Unicode arguments.

Original comment by zorkz...@hotmail.com on 11 Feb 2012 at 5:56