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Problem Report 0298 Details

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Report 0298 Actions

    Problem Report Number 0298
    Submitter's Classification Specification problem
    State Resolved
    Resolution Permanent Interpretation (PIN)
    Problem Resolution ID PIN.X.0014
    Raised 1993-10-11 08:00
    Updated 2003-03-13 08:00
    Published 1993-12-02 08:00
    Product Standard Commands and Utilities V2 (UNIX 95)
    Certification Program The Open Brand certification program
    Test Suite Unknown version N/A
    Test Identification N/A
    Specification Commands and Utilities Issue 4 Version 2
    Location in Spec See Problem Text
    Problem Summary PIN4.014 This is a question concerning the iconv utility and its behavior for stateful code sets. The syntax is iconv -f fromcode -t tocode [file...] which permits the handling of several input files. Assume t...
    Problem Text

    This is a question concerning the iconv utility and its
    behavior for stateful code sets. The syntax is

    iconv -f fromcode -t tocode [file...]

    which permits the handling of several input files.

    Assume that the input files are encoded in a stateful code set.
    Should the iconv utility reset the shift-state before processing
    the next input file, or should it use the previous state information
    for processing the next input file?

    The XCU4 description of the iconv utility does not speak to this
    issue nor does it acknowledge the capability of handling several
    input files except in the command syntax.

    Test Output

    Review Information

    Review Type TSMA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Recommendation No Resolution Given
    Review Response
    It seems that this is a case where the description of the iconv utility has
    not specified the necessary behaviour in the case that the input files
    contain stateful encodings. It is clear that a user of iconv would not expect
    the behaviour of iconv to be dependent on the order of specification of the
    input files as could be the case if the residual shift-state is not reset
    prior to processing a new input file.

    I would recommend an interpretation that mandated the resetting of the shift
    state at the commencement of processing of each file in order that the
    processing of each file is fully deterministic. Alternatively, it may be
    accepted that iconv is only capable of translating one file per invocation
    and that a syntactic change is necessary in the specification. This
    alternative is a less attractive solution.

    No Discussion comments in this Review.


    Review Type SA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Resolution Permanent Interpretation (PIN)
    Review Conclusion
    A Permanent Interpretation is granted.

    Problem Reporting System Options:

     

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