From: Vladimir Sizikov <vsizikov@...>
Date: 2008-06-04T19:04:02+09:00
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Iconv#iconv(str, start, length) doesn't really convert str[start, length]

Hi,

So, this is clearly a backwards-incompatible change, since all Ruby
versions up to the revision with the patch, treat second argument as
an index, that's how Iconv#iconv was  always working (despite the
documentation stating otherwise).

In fact, we have RubySpec tests for this behavior, since that was
de-facto behavior.

I'm not really saying that the change is bad/wrong, but I"m saying
that every incompatible change *is* incompatible change and somehow
needs to be better documented and with tests enforcing that behavior.

Also, what would happen with 1.8.6/1.8.7 lines, will they get the
update, or will they continue to exhibit current behavior? You see,
any incompatible changes quickly lead to  very messy situations. If
somebody is relying on older behavior, they will get *silent* , hidden
errors when upgrading.

Maybe, only docs need to be changed to match the current de-facto
behavor, rather than vice versa?

Thanks,
  --Vladimir

On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 8:39 AM, Vincent <vincentlu@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Here is a patch that handles both argument check and default value.
> ChangeLog:
>
> * ext/iconv/iconv.c : Iconv#iconv's length parameter default value changed
> to nil, which means to the end of the string. Any negative length, including -1,
> makes iconv return "".
> * iconv_convert : treats length as conversion length rather than an end index
> to match String#[fixnum, fixnum].
>
> Thanks,
> Vincent
>