Michael Stone wrote:
So I continue to request some additional reference showing me what part of the LSB is at issue.
In order to be LSB 1.3 certified Debian must comply with these specifications (see http://www.opengroup.org/lsb/cert/docs/faq.tpl#general5)
LSB 1.3 general LSB 1.3 architecture-specific OpenI18n (Li18nux 2000 1.0-amd4)The need to handle multi-byte characters is required by the OpenI18n specification, section 2.2:
--- cut here --- characterA sequence of one or more bytes representing a single graphic symbol or control code.
This term corresponds to the ISO C standard term multibyte character (multi-byte character), where a single-byte character is a special case of a multi-byte character. Unlike the usage in the ISO C standard, character here has no necessary relationship with storage space, and byte is used when storage space is discussed.
--- cut here ---
In that case the issue isn't LSB compliance, it's whether we want to support UTF8 in every program for sarge. That's not, AFAIK, listed as a release goal at this time. (And I think we're so far away from such a goal that it can't practically be accomplished without delaying sarge.)
Then OpenI18n spec only requires multi-byte handling for programs listed in chapter 4 (which includes the shell and other basic utilities). I think this is a goal than can be achieved for sarge without delaying the release.
Stefan