[Freeciv-Dev] RFC: encodings and environment variables

[Jason Dorje Short <vze49r5w@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As explained earlier, I think freeciv needs to be able to convert 
between three different types of encoding: the freeciv encoding, the 
local encoding, and the display encoding.
It should be possible to override all of these by using environment 
variables.  Quite simply, there's no reason _not_ to allow this; it only 
takes a couple of extra lines.  And it will make debugging on unusual 
systems easier since the user can change the encoding without needing to 
recompile.
The freeciv encoding should be UTF-8.  This encoding is used in internal 
storage, when sending data over the network (it overrides 
$FREECIV_NETWORK_ENCODING), in savegames, etc.  It should be settable by 
$FREECIV_DATA_ENCODING (although this should be unnecessary except in 
exceptional circumstances).
The local encoding can usually be specified to iconv as "".  On some 
systems this doesn't work and "char" will be needed.  I can imagine that 
on some iconv implementations neither will work, and it will have to be 
manually specified.  $FREECIV_LOCAL_ENCODING can be used to override this.
The display encoding depends on the interface being used.  For the 
server and most clients it should be the same as the local encoding. 
For gui-gtk-2.0 it is UTF-8.  For gui-sdl it is UTF-16 (or possibly 
UTF-16LE or UTF-16BE, as discussed separately).  This can be overridden 
by $FREECIV_DISPLAY_ENCODING.
Anyway, once the *current* patch for PR#1824 is resolved and the 
client-side-translation issue is addressed (without which this won't do 
much good), I will start work on this general system.
jason