[Boost-users] Re: Re: Feature request for boost::filesystem

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-06-30 22:04:27

Jeff Garland wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:26:14 -0700, Delfin Rojas wrote
>
>> ... snip ...
>> preprocessor definition. Then, boost::fylesystem::path could accept
>> std::basic_string<TCHAR> instead of std::basic_string<char>. That
>> would solve the problem and everybody would be happy ;)
>
> I'm guessing it's a bit more complicated than that. In February Beman
> (author of filesystem) was working on a proposal for this which was
> to be discussed at the Sydney meeting.  See
>
> http://lists.boost.org/MailArchives/boost/msg60389.php
>
> You can find a copy of it here:
>
> http://anubis.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2004/n1576.html
>
> Apparently he didn't finish in time because he left
> internationalization as an open issue (see the bottom of the previous
> link).  I'm not certain what's happened to Beman -- he hasn't posted
> lately -- hopefully he or someone else can update the state of the
> work.

I went through long arguments on comp.std.c++ trying to push for wide
character filenames to be added into the current C++ standard library where
only narrow character filenames are allowed. I wasn't attempting to specify
what those wide character filenames should mean on operating systems which
supported them, but suggesting it should be completely implementation
specific. Nor was I attempting to suggest that a wide character filename be
connected in any way to a particular Unicode representation. Merely on the
basis of orthogonality, and the fact that a number of operating systems
supported it, I argued that wide character filenames be allowed.

In the C++ standard library the only thing known about filenames is that
they are currently a sequence of narrow characters, with all other meanings
and usage being purely implementation defined. My suggestion was that wide
character filenames be added to the C++ standard library with the single
proviso that they be a sequence of wide characters, with all other meanings
being purely implementation defined. Needless to say, my suggestion was
rejected.

In the case of the boost::filesystem the situation is a great deal more
complicated since the notion of a filename is much more specifically defined
than in the C++ standard library.  So I do wish Mr. Dawes good luck in
attempting to come up with a good definition of wide character filenames in
his library.