Re: [PATCH] multibyte_identifiers: opt-in UTF-8 ...

From:	Lea Gris
Subject: Re: [PATCH] multibyte_identifiers: opt-in UTF-8 variable names (UAX #31 + NFC) behind a root-controlled system switch
Date:	Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:10:52 +0200

>As for "it would be an optional feature", that does not make it free.
>It still has to be designed, implemented, and maintained across the
>parser and every downstream tool that reads Bash scripts. That cost
>does not answer the original question: what does Bash gain from
>carrying it at all.

This.

My overall reaction to this most recent spate of posts proselytizing
in favor of this is that (rhetorical) you are free to do whatever you
like in your own local compile (build) of bash.  That is the beauty of
open-source - that since you have the source code and you own your own
machine, you can do what you like on your own machine.

In fact, the version of bash that I use everyday has lots of my own
local hacks.  I understand well that although they all seem logical
and essential to me, they are of little interest to either other
posters on this list or to the bash maintainer(s).  So, I live with
the fact that they are local to me and my bash builds.  This whole
idea of putting weird characters into identifiers seems to fit
directly into this sort of category.

Another idea is that maybe the guy who posted all those versions of
the patch should just start and maintain a publicly available
(presumably on "Github") fork of bash.

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BTW, ain't interested in kludgey workarounds - got enough of my own!
(YT id: 6H1lcubN0oE)