[Python-Dev] --disable-unicode (Tests and unicode)

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Martin v. Löwis wrote:
> M.-A. Lemburg wrote:
> 
>>Is the added complexity needed to support not having Unicode support
>>compiled into Python really worth it ?
> 
> If there are volunteers willing to maintain it, and the other volunteers
> are not affected: certainly.

No objections there. I only see that --disable-unicode
has already been broken a couple of times in the past
and no-one (except those running test suites regularly)
really noticed - at least not AFAIK.

>>I know that Martin introduced this feature a long time ago,
>>so he will have had a reason for it.
> 
> I added it because users requested it. I personally never use it.
> 
>>Today, I think the situation has changed: computers have more
>>memory, are faster and the need to integrate (e.g. via XML)
>>is stronger than ever - and maybe we should consider removing
>>the option to get a cleaner code base with fewer #ifdefs
>>and SyntaxErrors from the standard lib.
>>
>>What do you think ?
> 
> -0 for just ripping it out. +0 if PEP 5 is followed, atleast
> in spirit (i.e. give users advance warning to let them protest).
> 
> I guess users in embedded builds (either in embedded systems,
> or embedding Python into some other application) might still
> be interested in the feature. Of course, these users could either
> recreate the feature if we remove it, or just stay with
> Python 2.4.

If embedded build users rely on it, I'd suggest that these
users take over maintenance of the patch set.

Let's add a note to the configure switch that the feature will
be removed in 2.6 and see what happens.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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