Re: utf-8 sanity check.

On Thu, Jul 11, 2002 at 05:16:49PM -0500, Karl Fogel wrote:
> Greg Stein <gstein@lyra.org> writes:
> > Not at all. The Python test can easily set the appropriate locale environ
> > variable before executing the test process (the exec*e functions).
> >
> > $ svn --locale=FOO status
> > $ LC_CTYPE=FOO svn status
> >
> > They're the same number of characters, so don't even try to say "well, it is
> > easier to type". Why are we writing code for this? The system environment
> > variable is the defined way to handle this stuff. Why invent something new?
> >
> > IMO, it was a mistake to put in initially, and a mistake to retain/fix.
>
> As long as we have a way of doing this in environment, at run time, on
> all supported platforms, then I'm +1 on removing the option as well.

I think you're overstating the level of the requirement. I've seen two
stated use cases for the --locale switch:

  1) your log message is not in the system locale

  2) your working copy is not in the system locale

I find the second case "bogus" (I can't think of a less connotative word).
If your WC isn't using the system locale, then *what* other programs are
going to work well with it?

Exercise for the reader: name one other program with a --locale switch,
which somebody might be using with that WC. (heck, name one period)

The first option (the log message) is about the only thing that I (barely)
can see as a true use case. So now your requirement can be rewritten as:

  "As long as we have a way of supporting a log message in any charset, on
   all supported platforms, then ..."

Now how many people will actually be doing that? Karl, you've used yourself
as an example of writing in Big-5, yet your system locale is (presumably)
ISO-8859-1. But are you truly a typical user? Will your log messages really
be different?

And if we're only talking about the log message, then shouldn't the switch
be --locale-message ?

> But
>
> $ LC_CTYPE=FOO svn status
>
> will not work on non-Unix, and won't necessarily even work in all Unix
> shells, right? Not saying that's a showstopper, just want to know
> what the right solution *is* for those other situations...

$ env LC_CTYPE=FOO svn status

will work on all shells. For the Windows case, I still question the utility.
I *really* feel that we're catering to a fringe case that actually won't be
used. I think the --locale switch was added before we knew what it should be
used for, and now we're just compensating. It seems that we are taking its
presence as a statement of need, rather than considering the option of
simply removing the thing.

Cheers,
-g

-- 
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/
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