[I18n-sig] SIG charter and goals

[Andy Robinson]

Apologies to everyone for taking so long to get started; I have been
on the road between IPC8 and today, and hampered by a broken down
laptop..

I'd like to confirm with everyone what we discussed at IPC8, and try
to outline what I see as the SIG's charter.  If this I agreed, I will
put this up on a SIG home page this week. =20

I propose that the SIG's deliverables are:

1.  Support addition of Unicode to the Python core for 1.6:
------------------------------------------------------------------
The key tasks are to add Unicode string support to the Python core
(MAL), and add a new Unicode regex engine (Fredrik).  These are both
well underway.  This group should assist with testing, and be the
primary forum for feedback on those features. =20

2. Encodings API and library:
--------------------------------

We must deliver an encodings library which surpasses the features of
that in Java.  It should allow conversion between many common
encodings; access to Unicode character properties; and anything else
which makes encoding conversion more pleasant.  This should be
initially based on MAL's draft specification, although the spec may
be changed if we find good reason to.

There will be an inevitable initial focus on Japanese support due to
the key people involved.  However, if we can do that well then other
encodings should be less of a problem.

3.  Locales:
--------------
Implement a candidate module for the standard library offering support
for the world's date, time, money and number formats, and for time
zones.

4.   Application Localization:
-----------------------------------
This group is the intended focal point for frameworks for localizing
both conventional applications and Python-powered web sites.  This
field is very large and varied and we set not targets for delivering
'a solution'; however, we hope to generate discussion, how-tos and
references to examples of good and bad practice in this area.

5. Internationalizing Pythonwin and IDLE
-----------------------------------------------------
There are some current bugs/features in these environments which
seriously hamper use in double-byte environments.  We should try to
get these stamped out. =20

Opinions, anyone?  Have I missed any major topics?  Are there any best
left out of the SIG's charter?

- Andy