id summary reporter owner description type status component version severity resolution keywords cc stage has_patch needs_docs needs_tests needs_better_patch easy ui_ux 4380 Rename DEFAULT_CHARSET to OUTPUT_CHARSET (or similar) Simon Willison ctrochalakis "Just spotted this in the new unicode documentation (from the unicode branch): Do not be fooled into thinking that if you ``DEFAULT_CHARSET`` setting is set to something other than ``utf-8`` you can use that encoding in your bytestrings! The ``DEFAULT_CHARSET`` only applies to the strings generated as the result of template rendering (and email). Django will always assume UTF-8 encoding for internal bytestrings. The reason for this is that the ``DEFAULT_CHARSET`` setting is not actually under your control (if you are the application developer). It is under the control of the person installing and using your application and if they choose a different setting, your code must still continue to work. Ergo, it cannot rely on that setting. http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/branches/unicode/docs/unicode.txt?rev=5330#L57 How about renaming that setting to something more clear, like OUTPUT_CHARSET or DEFAULT_OUTPUT_CHARSET?" closed Core (Other) dev wontfix floguy@… Accepted 1 0 0 0 0 0