Text 5644, 54 rader
Skriven 2012-09-13 02:53:31 av Maurice Kinal (1:261/38.9)
     Kommentar till en text av Konstantin Kuzov (2:5019/400.1)
Ärende: the fghi.pp.ru web site
===============================
Hey Konstantin!

 KK> there are none UTF-8 compilant ftn-editors

I have yet to see one.  In my case I am using vim with bash scripts to assist
in the conversion to a more ftn acceptable format from a pure utf-8 text
message.  I am calling it 'WeBeBashing'.

 KK> all ftn-software developers almost extinct

I've been calling them ghosts for at least a dozen years now.  ;-)

 KK> almost half of the code must be dropped and rewritten from scratch

Probably.  The ascii codes aren't an issue since these can be safely
transferred to utf-8 without any changes whatsoever.  It is mostly the binary
integer definitions that are at the heart of the problem.  Also other long
obsoleted variables such as the time/date stamp.  These issues should have been
addressed over a decade ago and there were attempts to do so back then. 
Unfortunetly they continue to haunt which is the real shame.  16 bit fell out
of fashion on PC's well over two decades ago.  I truly believe that the
'backwards compatibilty' arguement of the DOS-think holdouts is simply a scam
as it relates to day to day usage of personal computers for all this time.

 KK> majority of fidonet users are russians and CP866 is most used
 KK> codepage nowadays

That is more of an excuse than a reason.  Most of the Russian sites I've run
across lately are defaulting to utf-8 these days and prior to that was usually
koi8-r rather than cp866.  Given that I've been citing both a Russian as well
as an American site as what is possible with respect to a ftn-ish utf-8 format
then I am inclined to stick with the idea of using utf-8 as the default where
no CHRS kludge is provided.  In the case of Carol's reply to me it would have
rendered her quotes perfectly on both sites, although the American one still
can't get wordwrapping correctly due to it assuming 8 bit characters depite the
site being utf-8 capable.  From what I see here, fghi.pp.ru does but then
falsely used cp866 where no CHRS kludge is provided.  I am arguing it *should*
default to utf-8 unless there is a CHRS kludge that says otherwise.

 KK> This will likely never happen

I am afraid the above is correct and has been correct for around 20 years now. 
It started out okay as a concept and might return to it's original roots but I
quit holding my breath ages ago.

I am still having fun with Fidonet when the opportunity presents itself.  How
about you?

Life is good,
Maurice

... A Møøse once bit my sister ...
--- GNU bash, version 4.2.37(2)-release (x86_64-core2-linux-gnu)
 * Origin: Pointy Stick Society (1:261/38.9)