Re: locale encoding and core functions

[Andrew Janke]

On 3/12/19 12:49 AM, John W. Eaton wrote:
> On 3/9/19 3:25 PM, Mike Miller wrote:
>  > The PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL files can be dropped into any directory on the
>  > load path, and they already support executing arbitrary commands.
>
> Good point.  We might as well use those files.  As a separate issue, we 
> might think about whether it is safe to execute arbitrary code found in 
> those files..
>
>  > Do we need to define a new file or can we install PKG_ADD files that run
>  > some command that does what you need? Something like
>  >
>  >      dn = fileparts (mfilename ("fullpath"));
>  >      set_dir_file_encoding (dn);
> Seems reasonable to me.
>
> jwe

This sounds like it would work.

How about a more generic function that supports compatibility mode and 
other code base properties like jwe suggested earlier? Something like:

# Signature
codebase_properties (dir, property_name, property_val)

# Set encoding
my_dir = fileparts (mfilename ("fullpath"))
codebase_properties (my_dir, "encoding", "UTF-8")
# Set compatibility mode
codebase_properties (my_dir, "compatibility", "octave")
codebase_properties (my_dir, "compatibility", "matlab")  # or "traditional"

And maybe have no-arg codebase_properties() dump a list of all the dirs 
with properties set and the values of all their properties, as a 
debugging convenience.

Andrew