Python's 8-bit cleanness deprecated?

[Jeff Epler]

Roman,
we're sorry there's such a minefield of different encodings.  But what
happens if you write something koi8-r, and somebody using cp1251 downloads
it?  Without an encoding cookie, he'll get gibberish when he runs the
program, since all non-ASCII strings will be in the wrong encoding.

With an encoding cookie, he'll get the right thing.

I don't know what to suggest for printed code listings.  The GUI editor
that people use should simply insert # -*- coding: xxx -*- automatically,
using the right 'xxx' value.  (we're talking about idiots here, so it'll
have to be done automatically)  And in your listing, you could just print
    # -*- encoding: /see text/ -*-
with // denoting italics or something that is obviously not simple program
text.

"Your" way, of trying to assume the contents of a file with high bits set,
means that the common way of exchanging Python programs (as electronic
files) won't work, but an uncommon way seems to present a small problem
that you'd be forced to explain.

Jeff