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Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 14:12:40 -0700
Subject: Re: Question about encoding, I need a clue ...
From: Chris Rebert <clp2@rebertia.com>
To: Geoff Wright <geoffwright240@gmail.com>
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On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 11:07 AM, Geoff Wright <geoffwright240@gmail.com> wr=
ote:
> Hi,
>
> I use Mac OSX for development but deploy on a Linux server. =C2=A0(Platfo=
rm details provided below).
>
> When the locale is set to FR_CA, I am not able to display a u circumflex =
consistently across the two machines even though the default encoding is se=
t to "ascii" on both machines.

ASCII can't represent a circumflex anyway, and I think the "default
encoding" is distinct from the locale-set encoding, so I don't think
the default encoding matters here.

>=C2=A0Specifically, calendar.month_name[8] returns a ? (question mark) on =
the Linux server whereas it displays properly on the Mac OSX system. =C2=A0=
However, if I take the result from calendar.month_name[8] and run it throug=
h the following function .... unicode(calendar.month_name[8],"latin1") ... =
then the u circumflex displays correctly on the Linux server but does not d=
isplay correctly on my Mac.
>
> Of course, I could work around this problem with a relatively simple if s=
tatement but these issues are going to show up all over my application so e=
ven a simple if statement will start to get cumbersome.
>
> I guess what it boils down to is that I would like to get a better handle=
 on what is going on so that I will know how best to work through future en=
coding issues. =C2=A0Thanks in advance for any advice.
>
> Here are the specifics of my problem.
>
> On my Mac:
>
> Python 2.6.7 (r267:88850, Jul 30 2011, 23:46:53)
> [GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5664)] on darwin
<snip>
>>>> calendar.month_name[8]
> 'ao\xc3\xbbt'
>>>> print calendar.month_name[8]
> ao=C3=BBt
>>>> print unicode(calendar.month_name[8],"latin1")
> ao=C3=83=C2=BBt
>
> On the linux server:
>
> uname -a
> Linux alhena 2.6.32.8-grsec-2.1.14-modsign-xeon-64 #2 SMP Sat Mar 13 00:4=
2:43 PST 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>
> Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Jan 24 2010, 17:44:40)
> [GCC 4.3.2] on linux2
<snip>
>>>> calendar.month_name[8]
> 'ao\xfbt'
>>>> print calendar.month_name[8]
> ao?t
>>>> print unicode(calendar.month_name[8],"latin1")
> ao=C3=BBt

Some quick experimentation seems to indicate that your month names are
Latin-1-encoded on Linux and UTF-8-encoded on Mac.
Perhaps try using a locale that specifies a specific encoding? e.g. fr_CA.U=
TF-8

Cheers,
Chris
--
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