Re: Indian Rupee Sign (U+20B9) proposal

From: Doug Ewell (doug@ewellic.org)
Date: Mon Jul 19 2010 - 13:26:15 CDT

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    Asmus Freytag <asmusf at ix dot netcom dot com> wrote:

    >>> No, I'm saying that if they really need a solution this instant, they'd be better off adhering to the Unicode Standard and 10646, and putting it in the PUA rather than (1) overloading U+0060, (2) overloading U+20A8, or (3) putting it at U+20B9 before that code point is formally assigned.
    >>>
    > I disagree in this instance. Any use of "temporary" code point assignment, whether it follows the rules (PUA) or doesn't (case 1 and 2) will create long term compatibility problems if it gets deployed widely.

    But temporary code point assignment is one of the things the PUA is
    meant for:

    D49: "... the abstract characters associated with [private-use code
    points]... can be given any interpretation by conformant processes."

    Overloading U+0060 or U+20A8 breaks a fundamental rule of Unicode: don't
    change the basic identity of a character. At least if the PUA is used,
    it will be evident that the code point is meant to be temporary. In
    cases 1 and 2, applications will happily display ` or ₨ without
    knowing that the 2010 version of the rupee sign is intended instead.

    > In my view, this is the kind of exceptional solution where the best course is to pre-implement the "final" code point assignment. That will create the least amount of long-term problems.

    Considering the impressive amount of experience that Asmus has with the
    UTC/WG2 encoding process, if he feels sufficiently confident that
    vendors are safe in pre-implementing U+20B9, I'm in no position to say
    otherwise. But it does violate conformance requirement C3.

    Strange that both the Indian rupee and the concept of currency symbols
    have existed for so long, with comparatively little drama over the lack
    of a unique currency symbol for the Indian rupee, but now that one has
    been defined, it's worth violating standards to implement it as fast as
    possible.

    --
    Doug Ewell | Thornton, Colorado, USA | http://www.ewellic.org
    RFC 5645, 4645, UTN #14 | ietf-languages @ is dot gd slash 2kf0s ­
    


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