From: Gary Wright <gwtmp01@...>
Date: 2011-02-15T07:04:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Cann't require UTF-8 files.


On Feb 14, 2011, at 3:30 AM, Fernando Perez wrote:
> Is there a way to avoid adding this magic encoding line in each file?
> 
> That's really a metadata and does not belong to the source code.

If the encoding declaration isn't in the file itself then where exactly would you store it?  If it isn't in the file then it has to be in some OS or filesystem specific meta-data store or in yet another file.  All of which  increases  the likelihood that the file and its meta-data will get out of synch or won't stay together when the file is copied or transferred somewhere else.

Placing the encoding information in the file itself seems like the most practical solution. The encoding declaration could of course be incorrect, but that is always a possibility no matter where you store the info.

Gary Wright