From: Markus Scherer (markus.scherer@jtcsv.com)
Date: Tue Nov 04 2003 - 16:14:15 EST
YTang0648@aol.com wrote:
> We are talking about charset value for the internet protocol here. It is
> a special narrow field of charset name. The value used by Internet
> protocol are defined by a well defined process-
> http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2278.html RFC 2278 - IANA Charset
> Registration Procedures
"well defined process" is a stretch. By the way, RFC 2978 replaced 2278 a few years ago.
The problem with the IANA charset _list_ is that it lists not only useful charset names but also
- names that are illegal for charsets by its own rules
- names for things that are not (verifiably) charsets at all
- names for charsets that cannot be implemented reliably
because there is no online, machine-readable specification for them,
and even for the ones where there is one, it is not usually
a mapping to/from Unicode
> ... But that does not mean IANA
> will or should take those name automatically. IANA will took those name
> if someone submit those name thorugh the RFC 2278 process and those name
> fit into the criterias stated in RFC 2278.
The problem with the IANA charset registration _process_ is that the criteria are under-specified
and the registration is often very unresponsive - some proposals are forgotten entirely or take many
months to register. Attempts to get clarification on the criteria have failed.
See the IANA charset list archives for details.
Best regards,
markus
-- Opinions expressed here may not reflect my company's positions unless otherwise noted.
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