[Python-Dev] Import and unicode: part two

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

"Martin v. Löwis" writes:

 > It's one thing how the file systems are formatted, but another thing
 > how they are presented to APIs. For example, the phones using Windows CE
 > would have to convert the file names to Unicode in the OS kernel.
 > 
 > So: for these phones - do you know how they present file names to the
 > application?

First of all, these aren't just phones; these are all kinds of gadgets
(the example I gave was a camera).  They're not as smart as an Android
or iPhone-like device, and I don't know what OS they use.

As for "presentation to the application", as I said, my older phones
presented themselves as "removable memory devices" (specifically on
the USB port), with VFAT-formatted file systems and Shift JIS file
names.  In that case you can surely have the kinds of problems
described, even if the app is not running on the device itself.  I
don't know if this is still true of more modern devices, but I was a
little shocked that is was true at all, even 5 or 6 years ago.

That may be one reason why the phone I have now doesn't provide a USB
interface at all.  That kind of interface is not only unnecessary with
Bluetooth, but Bluetooth uses more robust protocols.