Re: [bug-gnulib] Question concerning c-ctype, c-strcase, c-strcasestr and c-strstr modules

[Yoann Vandoorselaere]

On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 14:58 +0100, Bruno Haible wrote:
> Yoann Vandoorselaere wrote:
> > > I don't think Chinese users will find it nice if you exclude them from
> > > correct functioning of your program because of "performance" or "library 
> > > size".
> > 
> > I don't think you are qualified to decide in place of the application
> > developer whether the application should handle localized input or not.
> 
> Hehe, it's my role as gettext maintainer to encourage internationalization :-)
> 
> > I'm not advocating to not use them: I'm advocating to let the developer
> > choose. Some of the library/program using GnuLib are used in embedded
> > system where size matter, and where you won't see anything else than
> > standard ASCII as input.
> 
> OK, embedded systems. What I can offer, as a compromise, is to introduce
> flags like
>    NO_CHINESE_USERS
>    NO_JAPANESE_USERS
>    NO_KOREAN_USERS
>    NO_TURKISH_USERS
>    UTF_8_ALL_THE_WAY
> so that
>   - when the first three are defined or the last one is defined, strstr uses
>     the byte-for-byte implementation,
>   - when additionally NO_TURKISH_USERS is defined, strcasestr uses the
>     byte-for-byte implementation,
>   - when UTF_8_ALL_THE_WAY is defined, iconv becomes a trivial nop.
> 
> With names chosen like this, the user of gnulib or of your software will
> know explicitly which compromises he's making.
> 
> Would you be satisfied with that?

The ability to disable localized input will certainly be useful to
certain specific project. However, I find the proposed flags name harsh.

Using "HANDLING" or "INPUT" in place of "USERS" sound more appropriate
to me, don't you think?

-- 
Yoann Vandoorselaere | Responsable R&D / CTO | PreludeIDS Technologies
Tel: +33 (0)8 70 70 21 58                  Fax: +33(0)4 78 42 21 58
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