[Python-Dev] Automatic encoding detection [was: Re: Python3 "complexity" - 2 use cases]

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 10:48 AM, Jim J. Jewett <jimjjewett at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The barrier for entry to the standard library is higher than mere
>> usefulness.
>
> Agreed.  But "most programs will need it, and people will either
> include (the same) 3rd-party library themselves, or write their
> own workaround, or have buggy code" *is* sufficient.

Well, no, that's not sufficient on its own either. But yes, it's a
stronger argument.

> But having a batch process crash one run in ten (where it didn't
> crash at all under Python 2) is a bad thing.  There are environments
> where (once I knew about it) I would add chardet (if I could get
> approval for the 3rd-party component).

Having it *do the wrong thing* one run in ten is even worse.

If you need chardet, then get approval for the third-party component.
That's a political issue, not a technical one. "This needs to be in
the stdlib because I'm not allowed to install anything else"? I hope
not. Also, a PyPI package is free to update independently of the
Python version schedule. The stdlib is bound.

ChrisA