added charset (from isabelle_process.scala);
added fifo_reader -- also works on Cygwin;

--- a/src/Pure/Tools/isabelle_system.scala	Thu Aug 28 22:26:22 2008 +0200
+++ b/src/Pure/Tools/isabelle_system.scala	Thu Aug 28 22:26:23 2008 +0200
@@ -8,15 +8,18 @@
 package isabelle
 
 import java.util.regex.{Pattern, Matcher}
-import java.io.File
+import java.io.{BufferedReader, InputStreamReader, FileInputStream, File}
 
 
 object IsabelleSystem {
 
+  val charset = "UTF-8"
+
+
   /* Isabelle environment settings */
 
   def getenv(name: String) = {
-    val value = System.getenv(name)
+    val value = System.getenv(if (name == "HOME") "HOME_JVM" else name)
     if (value != null) value else ""
   }
 
@@ -71,6 +74,14 @@
   }
 
 
+  /* named pipes */
+
+  def fifo_reader(fifo: String) =
+    if (is_cygwin()) new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(Runtime.getRuntime.exec(
+      Array(platform_path("/bin/cat"), fifo)).getInputStream, charset))
+    else new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(fifo), charset))
+
+
   /* processes */
 
   private def posix_prefix() = if (is_cygwin()) List(platform_path("/bin/env")) else Nil