[Python-Dev] Re: test_unicode_file failing on Mac OS X

[Scott David Daniels]

martin at v.loewis.de (Martin v. L?wis) wrote:
> David Eppstein <eppstein at ics.uci.edu> writes:
>>>For the test, it would be best to compare normal forms, and have the
>>>test pass if the normal forms (NFD) are equal.
>>Shouldn't that be what happens in general for equality testing of 
>>unicodes, not just for this test?
> There was a BDFL pronouncement once that this should not be done
> automatically, in general. Normalization is a very slow algorithm, and
> it might not be meaningful in all cases.

Could we perhaps use a comparison that, in effect, did:

     def uni_equal(first, second):
         if first == second:
             return True
         return first.normalize() == second.normalize()

That is, take advantage of the fact that normalization is often
unnecessary for "trivial" reasons.

-Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org