Fwd: [Bug 340394] Re: redirecting log output to a file produces the wrong encoding on win32

[Philippe Lhoste]

On 21/04/2009 12:13, Martin Pool wrote:
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/340394
> 
> Does anyone have a clear idea of
> 1- what output encoding bzr should use on Windows when output is
> redirected to a file and running in a terminal using cp850?

I can only guess, but indeed command line window uses CP580 which I knew as "OEM" codepage 
(as opposed to "Ansi" Windows codepage, CP1252 (aka. Windows-1252, WinLatin1...). At least 
on Western Europa and USA.
It is an annoying quirk, even in standard Windows commands: if you type dir > x you will 
find (on my French system) lines like:

9 R‚p(s)  54ÿ092ÿ599ÿ296 octets libres

where it should be Rép(s) and 54 092 599 296 (I suppose the ÿ are non-breaking spaces in OEM).

I think you cannot find out if output must be in terminal CP or Windows CP depending if 
output is right to the console or redirected/piped...

> 2- what mechanism if any should be available to control it?
> 
> I suppose we could (like svn?) have a parameter that specifies the
> output encoding...

Makes sense, it is the most flexible and usable solution! That, or adding a filter program 
on the redirection...

Note: I typed a commit message (-m) with accents (I usually make these messages in 
English, but one can still introduce accents, like in "Bézier curves", etc.).
Output with bzr log is correct, wrong when redirected to a file, but correct with qlog. I 
suppose these messages are converted from the local codepage to UTF-8.
If I type the message in an editor (supposedly in CP-1252, display would be wrong 
otherwise anyway with my font), accents are correctly displayed by log and qlog (and still 
not with redirect).
If I force my editor to save in UTF-8, with or without BOM, log is wrong...

HTH.

-- 
Philippe Lhoste
--  (near) Paris -- France
--  http://Phi.Lho.free.fr
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