[Python-Dev] Python-3.0, unicode, and os.environ

[rdmurray at bitdance.com]

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 at 13:33, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> My problem with raising exceptions *by default* when an undecodable
> name exists is that it may render an app completely useless in a
> situation where the developer is no longer around. This happened all

I think Nick Coghlan's suggestion of emitting warnings would be an
excellent solution that addresses both your concerns and the concerns
Toshio has expressed (and with which I agree 100%).

The above is the only use case I've heard in this thread for ignoring
files with names that can't be decoded:  so that a user can use the
program on those files whose names can be decoded even when the user does
not have the resources to get the program fixed to handle undecodable
filenames.  I agree that that is a worthwhile goal.

If warnings were emitted, then files would not be silently ignored,
yet the program could still be used.

--RDM

PS: I'd like to see a similar warning issued when an access attempt
is made through os.environ to a variable that cannot be decoded.