[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Jim Jewett writes:

 > On 5/25/07, BJörn Lindqvist <bjourne at gmail.com> wrote:
 > > If Python required a switch for such a program to run, then this
 > > feature would be totally wasted on them. They might use an IDE,
 > > program in notepad.exe and dragging the file to the python.exe icon or
 > > not even know about cmd.exe or what a command line switch is. An error
 > > message, even an informal one, isn't easy to understand if you don't
 > > know English.

This can be handled with wrappers, at install time.  Ugly, but workable.
Jim's idea is very suggestive, though:

 > How about a default file, such as
 > 
 > "on launch, python looks for pyidchar.txt ... if you want to override
 > this default file do XYZ"

This still doesn't help to address the "fine-grained" (per-module or
per-file) control issue, right?  Unless you complexified the syntax.
You could allow includes (from a site library of character set
definitions, not arbitrary files), inline table definitions, and a
file or module to table mapping.

Since this would a under control of the site (distriubtions could
supply examples, but not install them where Python would pick them
up), maybe such complexity would be OK?  I believe most people's file
would be


    [DEFAULT]

    000000-1FFFFF   # intersection of the full Unicode range and PEP
                    # 3131-permitted characters

(where DEFAULT is a special table used by default for files not mapped
to another table).

How about per-user overrides?