[Python-Dev] PEP 383 update: utf8b is now the error handler

[Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn]

On May 6, 2009, at 7:33 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> You have convinced me that the PEP should wait as well.
>
> In its current form it is incomplete and dangerous.

+1 on delaying PEP 383

I think PEP 383 is a good idea in principle, but I'm still struggling  
to understand it myself, and it seems to offer new hazards for the  
unwary programmer.

On the other hand, maybe the wary programmers are waiting for Python  
3.2 anyway <wink>.

On the gripping hand, if PEP 383 is released in Python 3.1, will that  
obligate python-dev to support it indefinitely, at least in backwards- 
compatibility mode?  I'm not thinking of API compatibility as much as  
data compatibility -- someone used Python 3.1 to write down some  
filenames, and now a few years later they are trying to use the  
latest and greatest Python release to read those filenames...

Regards,

Zooko