[asdf-devel] source file encoding

[Stelian Ionescu]

On Tue, 2012-04-10 at 01:37 +1000, Douglas Crosher wrote:
[...]
> Won't library authors need to wait until their user base has upgraded ASDF
> before they can start migrating to UTF-8?  The external-format support helps
> write portable libraries using non-ASCII characters and is only available
> after an upgrade.
[...]
> > * thus, library developers can do nothing but wait for EVERYONE
> >  to be using a recent ASDF before they can do anything.

As a library writer, I treat ASDF as any other dependency: if I think
that I like/need some new ASDF feature I just use it; if users don't
want to or can't upgrade, that's not my problem

[...]
> > Admittedly, in either case, library developers
> > could use such conditional reading as in
> >   #+asdf-unicode #:asdf-unicode :encoding :utf-8
> > or
> >   #+asdf-unicode :encoding #:asdf-unicode :latin1
> > to make their libraries safer in a backwards-compatible way.
> 
> It would be great if some suggestions like this could be offered to ease the transition.

> There may be a concern that their users would have to upgrade ASDF now.
> 
> How can everyone enjoy reliable non-ASCII today, without the user base having upgraded
> ASDF?

Not possible. Even then "#+asdf-unicode" solution would only preserve
backwards-compatibility at the cost of no providing "reliable non-ASCII"

-- 
Stelian Ionescu a.k.a. fe[nl]ix
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
http://common-lisp.net/project/iolib

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <https://mailman.common-lisp.net/pipermail/asdf-devel/attachments/20120409/2318266e/attachment.sig>