Bug#292330: project: UTF-8 as default
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Harald Thingelstad <harald@fair.no> writes:
> Most basic problems with use of UTF-8 (both in languages and
> standard libraries) should have been fixed now, and as I see it,
> it's time to head for easier integration of UTF-8, system-wide.
Agreed.
There are a few cases where UTF-8 support is not "quite there", for
example on the console, where compose keys don't play nicely with
UTF-8 mode. I don't think these few cases should prevent us making
progress with the system overall, however.
> By this, I'm not talking about enforcing this character code on the
> whole Debian system, but see to that: 1) Installing systems with
> UTF-8 is easier, also with locales not strictly in need of
> this. UTF-8 as default is not necessarily my ultimate goal (as the
> title suggests), but having the option of using UTF-8 (or other
> encodings) system-wide, no matter what languages are chosen.
I think the locales package is the place to start this. For etch, I
would like the UTF-8 locales to be the default for all languages (with
language-specific encodings being offered as alternatives). This is
the opposite of the situation for Sarge, where language-specific
encodings are the default, with UTF-8 as an alternative. This would
have the effect of migrating all new installs to UTF-8, which still
allowing the use of old encodings if required. I switched all my
locales to UTF-8 only a year or so ago, and just iconv files as
required.
In some places, UTF-8 should be enforced, for example package control
files and changelogs.
> 2) See to that all Debian packages handles UTF-8 properly.
This is a policy issue. Not all packages need to handle it, so this
should be a reccommendation rather than a requirement. For example,
there are specialised packages that only work with certain specific
encodings, and these should probably not be a priority to change.
Certainly, all general-purpose packages should be UCS-aware, though.
Regards,
Roger
- --
Roger Leigh
Printing on GNU/Linux? http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
Debian GNU/Linux http://www.debian.org/
GPG Public Key: 0x25BFB848. Please sign and encrypt your mail.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.5.8 <http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/>
iD8DBQFB967nVcFcaSW/uEgRAtARAKCG3bedl9mOPixg5Mk/o+uVT2JfIQCg5F8W
I4ZUrJTngUYZQCnu/1zQJyM=
=I0/x
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: