Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Michael Schnell

On 10/04/2011 01:02 PM, Hans-Peter Diettrich wrote:



I wonder when Lazarus will be able to follow and use this string type 
for the complete library.


The LCL will use one unique encoding, most probably UTF-8 as the only 
losless Unicode representation. This means that strings with different 
encoding are converted whenever passed to a control, or read from it.



This might be true and it is obviously the way to go when running on Linux.

But with dynamically encoded Strings, the LCL does not need to force a 
certain encoding on it's user code interface. It _could_ internally use 
UTF-8 on Linux and UTF-16 on Windows with the same source code (only 
some differences in the direct system API related code that is 
OS-specific anyway). In the user code auto-conversion is supposed to 
happen whenever necessary.


I suppose this would result in faster programs on Windows.

Of course auto-conversion in the user code might slow down certain 
programs hen the user somehow forces a certain coding. And inappropriate 
user code might implicitly rely on a certain internal coding of a string 
and work only on a certain OS.


-Michael
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Hans-Peter Diettrich

Michael Schnell schrieb:

On 10/04/2011 10:59 AM, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:


Yes. Each string will have a codepage identifier associated with it.
if, during an assign operation, a difference exists, a conversion will 
occur.

(there are of course some exceptions)


GREAT !


Not really :-(

I wonder when Lazarus will be able to follow and use this string type 
for the complete library.


The LCL will use one unique encoding, most probably UTF-8 as the only 
losless Unicode representation. This means that strings with different 
encoding are converted whenever passed to a control, or read from it.


DoDi

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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Michael Schnell

On 10/04/2011 11:59 AM, Sven Barth wrote:


The earliest point is when the next big release after 2.6 is released 
(note: I don't mean 2.6.x here, more a 2.8). As 2.6 is currently 
prepared you can estimate how long that will take.



I see. ;-)

Unfortunately Delphi is way ahead on this behalf, but I also know that 
Delphi provides a lot of traps for users converting their "ANSI" 
projects to use NewStrings (even if they don't need Unicode at all).


-Michael
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Sven Barth

Am 04.10.2011 11:19, schrieb Michael Schnell:

On 10/04/2011 10:59 AM, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:


Yes. Each string will have a codepage identifier associated with it.
if, during an assign operation, a difference exists, a conversion will
occur.
(there are of course some exceptions)


GREAT !

I wonder when Lazarus will be able to follow and use this string type
for the complete library.


The earliest point is when the next big release after 2.6 is released 
(note: I don't mean 2.6.x here, more a 2.8). As 2.6 is currently 
prepared you can estimate how long that will take.


Regards,
Sven
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Michael Schnell

On 10/04/2011 10:59 AM, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:


Yes. Each string will have a codepage identifier associated with it.
if, during an assign operation, a difference exists, a conversion will 
occur.

(there are of course some exceptions)


GREAT !

I wonder when Lazarus will be able to follow and use this string type 
for the complete library.


-Michael
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Tue, 4 Oct 2011, Michael Schnell wrote:


On 10/03/2011 11:41 AM, michael.vancann...@wisa.be wrote:



Currently, hard work is being put in the unicode string and codepage string
routines in the RTL.


Do I understand correctly that this is the "New String" string handling (to 
be optionally, by default or exclusively used) ?


Yes.

Do I understand correctly, that with theses strings automatic conversion 
between different string encodinge (e.g. locale based ANSI <-> Unicode and 
UTF-8 <> UTF-16) is provided in the RTL ?


Yes. Each string will have a codepage identifier associated with it.
if, during an assign operation, a difference exists, a conversion will occur.
(there are of course some exceptions)

Michael.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread Michael Schnell

On 10/03/2011 11:41 AM, michael.vancann...@wisa.be wrote:



Currently, hard work is being put in the unicode string and codepage 
string

routines in the RTL.


Do I understand correctly that this is the "New String" string handling 
(to be optionally, by default or exclusively used) ?


Do I understand correctly, that with theses strings automatic conversion 
between different string encodinge (e.g. locale based ANSI <-> Unicode 
and UTF-8 <> UTF-16) is provided in the RTL ?


-Michael
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-04 Thread michael . vancanneyt



On Tue, 4 Oct 2011, Alexander Klenin wrote:


On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 08:48, Michael Van Canneyt
 wrote:

There is, again, a continuum between careful development and stangation.
While acknowledging great work that FPC team has done on the former,
I'd venture to say that is came uncomfortably close to the latter.


I'd venture to disagree.

Attached is a small graph from the bugtracker activity.
As you can see, the bugfix rate remains constant, which refutes
'stagnation'. We do work, even if it is not so 'visible'.


As I said, I did not ever deny you work, of course you do.
Still, "steady bugfixing" and "dymanic evolution" are not quite the same,
although related.


Now, to counter the perception of stagnation, you can help:
Please help us working on fppkg


Looking at the bugtracker, I found a single non-assigned issue #18321,
which talks about some "webdesign" package I know nothing about.
So I where can I look at the todo-list?


Slowly, we (mainly Joost, in fact) are converting the FPC packages to this
new mechanism, fixing bugs as we go along. You can help by testing this, and
converting more packages to the new fppkg.


Perhaps I can take care of a single package -- for example, numlib improvement
was discussed recently on the forum. However, I am afraid my work will
be rejected again as was the case with fpdoc.


Basing an opinion on 1 occurrence - however painful - is not very scientific :-)

The amount of patches being rejected is a small minority. But yes, it sometimes
happens.


So I'd consider working on numlib (+ math unit, which is obviously
closely related),
if I'd get either commit access or somebody who will timely commit my patches.


You should contact Marco Van De Voort, he currently looks after numlib.

Michael.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 08:48, Michael Van Canneyt
 wrote:
>> There is, again, a continuum between careful development and stangation.
>> While acknowledging great work that FPC team has done on the former,
>> I'd venture to say that is came uncomfortably close to the latter.
>
> I'd venture to disagree.
>
> Attached is a small graph from the bugtracker activity.
> As you can see, the bugfix rate remains constant, which refutes
> 'stagnation'. We do work, even if it is not so 'visible'.

As I said, I did not ever deny you work, of course you do.
Still, "steady bugfixing" and "dymanic evolution" are not quite the same,
although related.

> Now, to counter the perception of stagnation, you can help:
> Please help us working on fppkg

Looking at the bugtracker, I found a single non-assigned issue #18321,
which talks about some "webdesign" package I know nothing about.
So I where can I look at the todo-list?

> Slowly, we (mainly Joost, in fact) are converting the FPC packages to this
> new mechanism, fixing bugs as we go along. You can help by testing this, and
> converting more packages to the new fppkg.

Perhaps I can take care of a single package -- for example, numlib improvement
was discussed recently on the forum. However, I am afraid my work will
be rejected again
as was the case with fpdoc.
So I'd consider working on numlib (+ math unit, which is obviously
closely related),
if I'd get either commit access or somebody who will timely commit my patches.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Tue, 4 Oct 2011, Alexander Klenin wrote:


On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 00:42, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:

Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both
sides --
Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
while the quality of FPC will not suffer.


That's why I proposed a branch and that's what branches are for.


No, the branches (in svn, at least) are for code that is an
alternative/in-progress
imlpementation of some features, not for features rejected from the main branch.


For example a TString* class for UTF-8 might even go into classes. But this
needs to be done carefully.


There is, again, a continuum between careful development and stangation.
While acknowledging great work that FPC team has done on the former,
I'd venture to say that is came uncomfortably close to the latter.


I'd venture to disagree.

Attached is a small graph from the bugtracker activity.
As you can see, the bugfix rate remains constant, which refutes 'stagnation'.
We do work, even if it is not so 'visible'.

Many things are not even in this graph, as Jonas pointed out with his WIKI link.

The difficulty is:

The more code there is, the more it must be maintained. 
The team does not grow at the same rate as the lines of code in the files we distribute,

meaning that virtually the same amount of people must maintain more code.

Now, to counter the perception of stagnation, you can help:

I suspect faster release schedules could help to counter this perception. So:
Please help us working on fppkg, which should allow a much more free release 
schedule for FPC, and especially for the packages.


Using fppkg as a distribution mechanism would release the FPC team from the 
need to maintain everything in the FPC subversion. People could add packages 
to the repository, and release updates of their packages at will.


Slowly, we (mainly Joost, in fact) are converting the FPC packages to this new 
mechanism, fixing bugs as we go along. You can help by testing this, and converting 
more packages to the new fppkg.


Michael.<>___
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Jonas Maebe


On 03 Oct 2011, at 16:06, Alexander Klenin wrote:

There is, again, a continuum between careful development and  
stangation.

While acknowledging great work that FPC team has done on the former,
I'd venture to say that is came uncomfortably close to the latter.


I think http://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_New_Features_Trunk looks quite  
good.


Apart from that, I agree with the sentiment that it does not make  
sense trying to stuff everything and the kitchen sink under the FPC  
umbrella. Everything that's distributed that way automatically becomes  
the responsibility of the "core" developers of the day, and that  
collection of source code has grown much faster than the number of  
people maintaining it (and in a number of cases, maintainers have also  
disappeared). So distributing packages separately generally indeed  
makes much more sense for everyone (more flexibility for the  
maintainer, less responsibility and stagnation risk for the FPC  
project due to additional responsibilities).


And in this particular case, there does remain the fact that the  
cpstrnew adaptations are far from finished and that part of the  
functionality in this "utf-8 package" may well become part of the RTL  
or FCL. If there is then also a separate utf-8 package used by  
fpvectorial, and possibly also by user programs, you can bet that  
people would (understandably) complain if functionality is then  
removed from this utf-8 package to prevent code and maintenance  
duplication.


That's also why Florian mentioned the branch: does not cause wrong  
expectations (users won't start using that package), the code is  
available in svn and therefore it can be used for finishing the  
cpstrnew work where appropriate, and before/when merging to trunk we  
can first look at what should be removed or changed to prevent  
duplication of functionality. But again: as a non-FPC package you  
indeed avoid this overhead and the uncertainty that when the time  
merging arrives, you won't be able to merge everything you want.



Jonas
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 00:49, Paul Ishenin  wrote:
> 03.10.2011 21:32, Alexander Klenin wrote:
>>
>> I'd say there is a continuum between those extremes, and (unfortunately)
>> from my point of vew, FPC review is sometimes rather close to the former.
>> I have been burned by this myself.
>
> When?

To avoid re-starting old flame, I'll send you an example privately.

> I also don't see the big need for hosting the majority of FPC packages in
> the FPC svn repository. Why not to leave there only the basic things like
> windows, osx, gtk and other platform packages and to remove everything else
> outside?

There is also a balance there -- while I agree that currently FPC has some
obvoiusly unneeded packages (a52/dts for example),
there are some benefits for both users and developers when using a
common repository.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Florian Klämpfl

Am 03.10.2011 16:06, schrieb Alexander Klenin:

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 00:42, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:

Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both
sides --
Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
while the quality of FPC will not suffer.


That's why I proposed a branch and that's what branches are for.


No, the branches (in svn, at least) are for code that is an
alternative/in-progress
imlpementation of some features,


Well, I consider an utf-8 package as an alternative/in-progress 
implementation to the current wip on unicode support.



not for features rejected from the main branch.


If you like, we can also create svn.freepascal.org/svn/fpc/stagging ;) I 
don't see it as rejected, see e.g. also MvC's mail.

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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 01:01, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
 wrote:
>
> I think we should agree to disagree: Let's delete fpvectorial from
> FPC, I'll export it into lazarus/components/fpvectorial and we move
> our separate ways.

+1
Among other things, this will simplify management of TAChart's
fpvectorial back-end ;-)

-- 
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 00:42, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:
>> Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both
>> sides --
>> Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
>> while the quality of FPC will not suffer.
>
> That's why I proposed a branch and that's what branches are for.

No, the branches (in svn, at least) are for code that is an
alternative/in-progress
imlpementation of some features, not for features rejected from the main branch.

> For example a TString* class for UTF-8 might even go into classes. But this
> needs to be done carefully.

There is, again, a continuum between careful development and stangation.
While acknowledging great work that FPC team has done on the former,
I'd venture to say that is came uncomfortably close to the latter.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 3:42 PM, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:
> That's why I proposed a branch and that's what branches are for.

So far we had two against and one maybe a small part of it ...
seriously I think it is unrealistic to expect that if there is
virtually no support from fpc developers for the proposal now, if I
would implement it in a branch, then support for this would magically
build up.

I think we should agree to disagree: Let's delete fpvectorial from
FPC, I'll export it into lazarus/components/fpvectorial and we move
our separate ways.

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Jonas Maebe


On 03 Oct 2011, at 15:49, Paul Ishenin wrote:

As I remember there is a package "lnet" which can be somehow  
installed via internet. I don't remember the details but I believe  
I've seen this a half year ago or so. Why fpspreadsheet and  
fpverctorial together with new utf8 package can't be follow this way  
of distributing?


lnet is only a test package for that functionality. It hasn't been  
opened yet in general.



Jonas
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Paul Ishenin  wrote:
> As I remember there is a package "lnet" which can be somehow installed via
> internet. I don't remember the details but I believe I've seen this a half
> year ago or so. Why fpspreadsheet and fpverctorial together with new utf8
> package can't be follow this way of distributing?

Not a solution for the utf-8 package because then Lazarus would not be
able to use it easily.

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Paul Ishenin

03.10.2011 21:32, Alexander Klenin wrote:

I'd say there is a continuum between those extremes, and (unfortunately)
from my point of vew, FPC review is sometimes rather close to the former.
I have been burned by this myself.

When?

Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both sides --
Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
while the quality of FPC will not suffer.
As I remember there is a package "lnet" which can be somehow installed 
via internet. I don't remember the details but I believe I've seen this 
a half year ago or so. Why fpspreadsheet and fpverctorial together with 
new utf8 package can't be follow this way of distributing?


Those users who need them can install then using some fp package install 
utility.


I also don't see the big need for hosting the majority of FPC packages 
in the FPC svn repository. Why not to leave there only the basic things 
like windows, osx, gtk and other platform packages and to remove 
everything else outside?


Best regards,
Paul Ishenin.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Florian Klämpfl

Am 03.10.2011 15:32, schrieb Alexander Klenin:

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 22:40, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:

Am 03.10.2011 13:23, schrieb Alexander Klenin:


This way, you can develop much faster, without the need to fight for
your changes,


Others call this fighting "review" and consider it as important part to
improve software quality.


I'd say there is a continuum between those extremes, and (unfortunately)
from my point of vew, FPC review is sometimes rather close to the former.


FPC has to fit the need of a lot of users so we must be very carefull 
what we add and what not. Everything we add and which goes into a 
release must be maintained. We cannot easily kill packages if a 
maintainer disappears or if the functionality is already in base units. 
Unicode support is currently under heavy reconstruction so it's not a 
good idea to add new packages for unicode.




Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both sides --
Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
while the quality of FPC will not suffer.


That's why I proposed a branch and that's what branches are for.

For example a TString* class for UTF-8 might even go into classes. But 
this needs to be done carefully.

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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 22:40, Florian Klämpfl  wrote:
> Am 03.10.2011 13:23, schrieb Alexander Klenin:
>>
>> This way, you can develop much faster, without the need to fight for
>> your changes,
>
> Others call this fighting "review" and consider it as important part to
> improve software quality.

I'd say there is a continuum between those extremes, and (unfortunately)
from my point of vew, FPC review is sometimes rather close to the former.
I have been burned by this myself.

Anyway, what I suggest is IMO a good compromise and should satisfy both sides --
Felipe can continue development of his packages unobstucted,
while the quality of FPC will not suffer.

I do not really see any downsides -- perhaps there is a section of users
who use FPSpreadsheet and NOT use Lazarus, but I suspect
this section is very small.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Thaddy

On 3-10-2011 13:45, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho wrote:
Also not a solution, because then fpvectorial and fpspreadsheet would 
not be able to compile in other RTL modes. 
What?  You mean you are seeking the solution upstream? Seems 
the design of those units is lacking.



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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:40 PM, Marco van de Voort  wrote:
> True, because we never planned to have support for such utf8 only libraries
> in the first place.
...
> Then factor out the relevant LCL independent stuff to an external project.
>
> If it is non visual, it doesn't automatically mean it should go into FPC.

You know very well that this is not a workable solution. It would be a
huge work to set up such an intermediary project between FPC and
Lazarus.

I think that's a very radical posture. I can even understand that you
may not want utf-8 support in the RTL which you develop, that you may
not want to use fputf8 in your projects, but block packages which you
don't develop??? You don't have to use it if you don't like it.

> 1) There is an unit ansistrings in Delphi for just that.

Not nearly what I want. Just to start with, ansistring is not the same
as utf8string.

> 2) And if you use the UTF8 spin of the unicode RTL, the default TStringlist 
> is UTF8.

Also not a solution, because then fpvectorial and fpspreadsheet would
not be able to compile in other RTL modes.

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Florian Klämpfl

Am 03.10.2011 13:23, schrieb Alexander Klenin:


This way, you can develop much faster, without the need to fight for
your changes,


Others call this fighting "review" and consider it as important part to 
improve software quality.

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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Alexander Klenin
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 21:13, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
 wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Marco van de Voort  wrote:
>> These things are related to Lazarus UTF8
>> decision and thus logically belong in Lazarus,
>
> Not really. One can write a non-visual library which uses utf8string
> as its main string type, why not? But the RTL is not adequate for
> utf8string projects and will still not be after the Unicode RTL is
> completed.

Felipe, I agree with you in theory, but I'd still recommend you to move
utf8string together with fpvectorial and fpspreadsheet into Lazarus.

This way, you can develop much faster, without the need to fight for
your changes,
and without the need for a half-duplicate CCR repository.

As for visual vs non-visual distinction, Lazarus can be used to produce console
applications just as well, so moving to Lazarus does not automatically means
depending on LCL.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread michael . vancanneyt



On Mon, 3 Oct 2011, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho wrote:


On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM,   wrote:

Please do not include this package yet.


I'd rather find a consensus on this now then to postpone yet again. I
have patches to merge about this and I have some time now which is
something which can disappear at any moment.


This is in fact a reason not to include it in fpc. You commit some
quick-and-dirty stuff, and then it's forgotton, or abandoned.

So: rather not.




So I suggest you wait till the dust settles around the new string type, and
then check
a) what is still needed. Maybe we will have solved it for you.


I am 100% sure that it will not solve my problems.


b) whether it should not be put in the RTL instead of a separate package.


Wasn't this rejected a short while ago?


Not to my knowledge.

First wait till the dust settles. You can always park your routines in
lazarus CCR in the meantime.

Michael.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Marco van de Voort
In our previous episode, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho said:
> 
> Not really. One can write a non-visual library which uses utf8string
> as its main string type, why not? But the RTL is not adequate for
> utf8string projects

True, because we never planned to have support for such utf8 only libraries
in the first place. 

> and will still not be after the Unicode RTL is
> completed.

I don't see why not.

> This is the case of fpvectorial and fpspreadsheet for example. If
> there is no fpc package with UTF-8 routines then it becomes impossible
> to write utf-8 non-visual packages which do not depend on the LCL.

> FPSpreadsheet already contains code copied from the LCL utf-8
> routines, I want to stop this multiplication of code copies and unify
> all routines in one base place, which logically should be in Free
> Pascal.

Then factor out the relevant LCL independent stuff to an external project.

If it is non visual, it doesn't automatically mean it should go into FPC.
 
> > till they are superceded in 2.8 by proper unicode support.
> 
> The Unicode RTL is not satisfactory for utf-8 projects. One cannot
> seriously expect to be able to write a project which uses utf8string
> if you don't even have a utf-8 TStringList to share between various
> libraries.

1) There is an unit ansistrings in Delphi for just that. 
2) And if you use the UTF8 spin of the unicode RTL, the default TStringlist is 
UTF8.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Florian Klämpfl

Am 03.10.2011 12:20, schrieb Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho:

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM,  wrote:

Please do not include this package yet.


I'd rather find a consensus on this now then to postpone yet again. I
have patches to merge about this and I have some time now which is
something which can disappear at any moment.


You can always commit them to a branch so the changes can be discussed.

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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM,   wrote:
> Please do not include this package yet.

I'd rather find a consensus on this now then to postpone yet again. I
have patches to merge about this and I have some time now which is
something which can disappear at any moment.

> So I suggest you wait till the dust settles around the new string type, and
> then check
> a) what is still needed. Maybe we will have solved it for you.

I am 100% sure that it will not solve my problems.

> b) whether it should not be put in the RTL instead of a separate package.

Wasn't this rejected a short while ago?

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Marco van de Voort  wrote:
> These things are related to Lazarus UTF8
> decision and thus logically belong in Lazarus,

Not really. One can write a non-visual library which uses utf8string
as its main string type, why not? But the RTL is not adequate for
utf8string projects and will still not be after the Unicode RTL is
completed.

This is the case of fpvectorial and fpspreadsheet for example. If
there is no fpc package with UTF-8 routines then it becomes impossible
to write utf-8 non-visual packages which do not depend on the LCL.
FPSpreadsheet already contains code copied from the LCL utf-8
routines, I want to stop this multiplication of code copies and unify
all routines in one base place, which logically should be in Free
Pascal.

> till they are superceded in 2.8 by proper unicode support.

The Unicode RTL is not satisfactory for utf-8 projects. One cannot
seriously expect to be able to write a project which uses utf8string
if you don't even have a utf-8 TStringList to share between various
libraries.

-- 
Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread michael . vancanneyt



On Mon, 3 Oct 2011, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho wrote:


Hello,

I would like to add a new package to Free Pascal into the directory
packages/fputf8 which will provide classes and routines for UTF-8
applications. It might grow to include things like:

* full unicode tables and conversion routines
* Equivalents of RTL classes which are not adequate for UTF-8
applications and/or will still not be in the wide RTL like TFileStream
and TStringList
* Equivalents of RTL routines with UTF-8 parameters

Just announcing to check if there is opposition to Free Pascal
distributing such a package.


Please do not include this package yet.

Currently, hard work is being put in the unicode string and codepage string
routines in the RTL.

Chances are that you will duplicate a lot of functionality, and this should
be avoided at all costs.

So I suggest you wait till the dust settles around the new string type, and
then check
a) what is still needed. Maybe we will have solved it for you.
b) whether it should not be put in the RTL instead of a separate package.

Michael.
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Re: [fpc-devel] utf-8 package in Free Pascal

2011-10-03 Thread Marco van de Voort
In our previous episode, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho said:
> I would like to add a new package to Free Pascal into the directory
> packages/fputf8 which will provide classes and routines for UTF-8
> applications. It might grow to include things like:
> 
> * full unicode tables and conversion routines
> * Equivalents of RTL classes which are not adequate for UTF-8
> applications and/or will still not be in the wide RTL like TFileStream
> and TStringList
> * Equivalents of RTL routines with UTF-8 parameters
> 
> Just announcing to check if there is opposition to Free Pascal
> distributing such a package.

I don't see the point of this.  These things are related to Lazarus UTF8
decision and thus logically belong in Lazarus, till they are superceded in
2.8 by proper unicode support.

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