[Python-3000] [Python-Dev] New proposition for Python3 bytes filename issue

[Bill Janssen]

M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
> On 2008-10-01 09:54, Ulrich Eckhardt wrote:
> > On Tuesday 30 September 2008, M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
> >> On 2008-09-30 08:00, Martin v. Löwis wrote:
> >>>> Change the default file system encoding to store bytes in Unicode is
> >>>> like introducing a new Python type: <fake Unicode for filename hacks>.
> >>> Exactly. Seems like the best solution to me, despite your polemics.
> >> Not a bad idea... have os.listdir() return Unicode subclasses that work
> >> like file handles, ie. they have an extra buffer that holds the original
> >> bytes value received from the underlying C API.
> > 
> > Why does it have to be a Unicode subclass? In my eyes, a Unicode object 
> > promises a few things, in particular that it contains a Unicode string. If it 
> > now suddenly contains bytes without any further meaning, that would be bad.
> 
> Please read my entire email. I was proposing to store the underlying
> non-decodeable byte string value in such a subclass. The Unicode value
> of the object would then be that underlying value decoded as e.g.
> Latin-1 in order to be able to work on it as text.

I'm actually sort of liking this idea.  A Pathname class, for convenience
a subtype of String, but containing the underlying binary representation 
used by the OS.  Even non-unicode pathnames could be represented.

Bill