Re: String encoding during connection "handshake"

On 11/28/07, sulfinu(at)gmail(dot)com <sulfinu(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> On Wednesday 28 November 2007, Trevor Talbot wrote:

> > I'm not entirely sure how that's supposed to solve the client
> > authentication issue though. Demanding that clients present auth data
> > in UTF-8 is no different than demanding they present it in the
> > encoding it was entered in originally...

> Oh no, it's a big difference: PREDICTABILITY!
> Why must I guess the encoding used by the administrator? What if he's Chinese?
> Instead, I know the cluster's encoding, just as I know the server name and
> the TCP port. And the connection handshake carries on without
> misunderstandings (read wrong encoding).

What if the user and client program is Chinese too? Not everything is
developed in an environment where UTF-8 support is easily available.
Either way, it is a demand on the client, and not necessarily a simple
one.