[rescue] UTF-8 [was T5220 update]

[Mouse]

>>>> "Be strict about what you emit, but liberal about what you
>>>> accept."
>>> This seems to be lost wisdom.
>> I wouldn't really call it "lost wisdom" as much as "no longer nearly
>> so applicable wisdom".

[phils@, replying to the above]
> Well, it still has applicability.  It's just that there are certain
> realms in which it is no longer a safe policy.

Including most of the ones where I've seen it cited, so I think I'll
stand by "no longer nearly so applicable".

But there are a number of ways in which things that don't normally look
dangerous can turn dangerous.  I once was at a talk by someone who
outlined how a bug in sort(1) - something not normally considered all
that security-sensitive - could turn into a serious security hole.

[amh@, responding to phils@]
> Some argue otherwise:

> https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-thomson-postel-was-wrong-01.txt

Well, what I read was draft-thomson-postel-was-wrong-02.txt from
ftp.ietf.org (since tools.ietf.org is apparently unwilling to serve
content over HTTP - I can't imagine what benefit they think accrues to
anyone from refusing to serve content, available by anonymous FTP, over
HTTP! - I can't read the version you linked to).

But Thomson's draft seems to be talking (almost?) entirely about
network protocols, and in that context I think it's right.  I'm more on
the fence about its applicability to other interfaces, such as stdin
and stdout of tools.

[mcguire@, replying to the "lost wisdom" line]
> That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what "these kids
> today" don't know.

Depressingly true.  For example, I can't remember seeing a really good
interface spec written in the last, say, decade.  There is a scarily
long list of things that are going to have to be scrapped and
reimplemented when they break and the last person who understood them
is not just retired but dead.

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