[fpc-pascal] FPC 3 regression: cannot use TStringList for UTF-8 data any more?

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2016, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

>> more complete solution for UTF-8. This is useful for many users. They
>> don't have to reinvent the wheel.
>
> Not having looked at the two units you mentioned... but if this is a
> general requirement for anybody using UTF-8 or similar with FPC 3.0,
> then wouldn't it be best to see if those units can be contributed to
> FPC's FCL? The ultimate "don't reinvent the wheel" location. ;-)

One would think so but:

1. Using UTF8 is a choice of lazarus. Other people may prefer UnicodeString.
    On Windows, UnicodeString is more 'natural' or 'native'.

2. The release cycle of FPC is rather long, so updates will be available not
    as fast as the lazarus team needs them.
    And in view of 1. that may be a problem.

If memory serves well, there was initially an attempt to get some of the
functionality into FPC by Felipe, but this was quickly abandoned due to above
arguments...

Michael.