@@ -2,19 +2,29 @@
 luac != which luac
 sh != which sh
 
 extens = $(wildcard ext/*.lua)
-extens_names ?= $(basename $(notdir $(extens)))
+extens-names ?= $(basename $(notdir $(extens)))
 build = build
 executable = cortav
 default-format-flags = -m html:width 40em
 
 prefix = $(HOME)/.local
-bin_prefix = $(prefix)/bin
-share_prefix = $(prefix)/share/$(executable)
+bin-prefix = $(prefix)/bin
+share-prefix = $(prefix)/share/$(executable)
 
-$(build)/$(executable): sirsem.lua cortav.lua $(extens) cli.lua | $(build)/
-	@echo ' » building with extensions $(extens_names)'
+# by default, we fetch and parse information about encodings we
+# support so that cortav can do fancy things like format math
+# equations by character class (e.g. italicizing variables)
+# this is not necessary for parsing the format, and can be
+# disabled by blanking the encoding-data list when building
+# ($ make encoding-data=)
+encoding-data  = ucstbls
+encoding-files = $(patsubst %,$(build)/%.lc,$(encoding-data))
+encoding-data-ucs = https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/UnicodeData.txt
+
+$(build)/$(executable): sirsem.lua $(encoding-files) cortav.lua $(extens) cli.lua | $(build)/
+	@echo ' » building with extensions $(extens-names)'
 	echo '#!$(lua)' > $@
 	luac -o - $^ >> $@
 	chmod +x $@
 
@@ -31,24 +41,29 @@
 	rm -f $(build)/cortav $(build)/cortav.html $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop $(build)/cortav-view.sh
 
 $(build)/%.sh: desk/%.sh
 	echo >$@ "#!$(sh)"
-	echo >>$@ 'cortav_exec="$(bin_prefix)/$(executable)"'
+	echo >>$@ 'cortav_exec="$(bin-prefix)/$(executable)"'
 	echo >>$@ 'cortav_flags="$${ct_format_flags-$(default-format-flags)}"'
 	cat $< >> $@
 	chmod +x $@
 
 $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop: desk/cortav-view.desktop
 	cp $< $@
-	echo "Exec=$(bin_prefix)/cortav-view.sh" >>$@
+	echo "Exec=$(bin-prefix)/cortav-view.sh" >>$@
 
 %/:
 	mkdir -p $@
 
+$(build)/unicode.txt: | $(build)/
+	curl $(encoding-data-ucs) > $@
+$(build)/ucstbls.lc: $(build)/unicode.txt | $(build)/
+	$(lua) tools/ucs.lua $< | $(luac) -o $@ -
+
 .PHONY: install
-install: $(build)/cortav $(build)/cortav-view.sh $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop | $(bin_prefix)/
-	install $(build)/$(executable)  $(bin_prefix)
-	install $(build)/cortav-view.sh $(bin_prefix)
+install: $(build)/cortav $(build)/cortav-view.sh $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop | $(bin-prefix)/
+	install $(build)/$(executable)  $(bin-prefix)
+	install $(build)/cortav-view.sh $(bin-prefix)
 	xdg-mime         install desk/velartrill-cortav.xml
 	xdg-desktop-menu install $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop
 	xdg-mime         default velartrill-cortav-view.desktop text/x-cortav
 
@@ -55,9 +70,9 @@
 .PHONY: excise
 excise: $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop
 	xdg-mime         uninstall desk/velartrill-cortav.xml
 	xdg-desktop-menu uninstall $(build)/velartrill-cortav-view.desktop
-	rm $(bin_prefix)/$(executable)
-	rm $(bin_prefix)/cortav-view.sh
+	rm $(bin-prefix)/$(executable)
+	rm $(bin-prefix)/cortav-view.sh
 
 .PHONY: wipe
 wipe: excise clean