Re: [boost] Re: status of wchar_t support in filesystem::path?

From: Jeff Garland (jeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-02-15 21:08:25

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 15:37:14 -0500, Edward Diener wrote
> Paul Miller wrote:
> > I just started using boost recently and it seems excellent so far.
> >
> > One of the first classes I started using is filesystem::path, with the
> > intention to use it portably on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
> >
> > On Windows and OS X, you can work with paths in Unicode. Presumably
> > Linux still works with multi-byte characters.
> >
> > Is there progres toward a wchar_t-aware path?
> 
> I don't know if Mr. Dawes will include such an addition in a future version
> of filesystem, but I do know that urging that C++ standard libraries 
> add wide character filenames and paths where appropriate, on 
> comp.std.c++, has met with a wall of resistance in the past. There 

Of course, given that boost is open source, there is always another path. The
users that really want wchar_t support can dig in and work on coming up with a
design / implementation.  I'm sure Beman and others would welcome such
contributions and are willing to help discuss the design options.  

Having just finished (checked in today) adding wide string/stream support into
date_time, I can tell you it is a non-trivial issue.  The fundamental problem
traces back to those legacy compiler/library combinations.  My goal wasn't to
support wide string/streams on the legacy platforms, only to not break the
current level library support for those compilers.  That was tricky without
hacking up the code base too badly.  So I would council patience on the part
of folks that aren't willing to spend the time to work out a concrete proposal
for how to approach the problem.

Jeff