[Python-Dev] Unicode strings as filenames

[M.-A. Lemburg]

[Skip wants open() to handle Unicode on all platforms]

As Martin and Neil have already explained, the handling of national
characters in file names is not standardized at all across 
platforms (not even file systems on one platform, e.g. on Linux).

The only option I see to make this situation less painful is
to write a filename subsystem which implements two generic
APIs:

1. file open using strings and Unicode

2. file listing using either Unicode or strings with a predefined
   encoding in the output list

Since this subsystem would be fairly complicated, I'd suggest 
that someone writes a PEP on the topic and then the various
experts try to come up with implementations which work on at
least some systems and a fallback implementation which gets
used if no other implementation fits.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
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