At about the same time, Martin said:
I agree. I disagree that you should be able to do so with Python 3.0 (although it looks like you might).
Why do you disagree that I should be able to do this with Python 3.0? (I can guess, but that just increases the likelihood that I'll be wrong, which I don't like.)
There might be systems and environments where Python doesn't work at all, or doesn't work "correctly" (i.e. as the majority of users would expect). There have been such systems and environments always. There will always be bugs. There will always be later releases to fix them. Python 3.0 doesn't have to be perfect, and won't be.
I'm still in favor of a solution that doesn't divide the APIs into "character file names" and "byte file names"; I want the "character file names" to work always. However, I find it completely unrealistic to make this work in Python 3.0. Providing that feature in 3.1 is still early enough, plus it requires a PEP.
Regards, Martin