Re: GDB 6.4 and translations

Paul Schlie
2004-11-04T00:27:29Z

Although I don't know if it's been considered or even an issue, but it may
be worth trying to avoid the use of Unicode's typographical quote characters
in otherwise ASCII message string output on even Unicode supported platforms
by default; as the potential complications and/or confusions resulting from
such a default choice may likely not be worth any perceived benefit;
especially for text which may likely be subsequently parsed by tools likely
benefiting, and/or depending on the use of plain old ASCII quote characters.

(where even translated message text which can't be represented in ASCII,
likely benefit from the use of plain old ASCII quote delimiters help keep
it's subsequent machine parsing simple, and indifferent to the message's
encoding)

The above comment does not necessarily apply to documentation; although any
text which is meant to represent program code should also likely limit its
quote character use to plain old ' and " pairs by default, as expected by
most programming language parsers; just as most mark-up languages assume for
text designated as being intended as "code".

Maybe the FSF should consider the specification of a policy which recognizes
the difference between text intended primarily for human consumption, vs
message text which may just as likely be parsed by integrated development
tools, regardless of Unicode support.