[niemeyer@conectiva.com: Re: [Python-Dev] Python's footprint]

[Guido van Rossum]

> Just to make sure... I was talking about something like:
> 
> open__doc__ = \
>     "Open the file. On Windows, the MBCS encoding is assumed, "\
>     "on all other systems, the file name must be given in ASCII.";
> 
> vs.
> 
> #ifdef MS_WINDOWS
> open__doc__ = \
>     "Open the file, assuming the filename is given in the MBCS "\
>     "encoding.";
> #else
> open__doc__ = \
>     "Open the file, assuming the filename is given in ASCII.";
> #endif

Given the main use case for docstrings, I'd prefer the latter.  The
library manual should contain the "all-platforms" documentation.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)