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- Libidn FAQ -- Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions.
- Copyright (C) 2002-2024 Simon Josefsson
- See the end for copying conditions.
- Q#1: Why doesn't Libidn use a separate library for the Unicode
- operations?
- A#1: Separate libraries (Glib, QT, libiconv) seldom mark the
- Unicode tables with the corresponding Unicode version they
- implement, nor do they provide a interface where a specific
- version can be requested. This violates the stringprep
- specification which requires that a specific version must be
- used. Also, some of these third party libraries depend on
- non-portable behavior (e.g. threads).
- Q#2: Why do Libidn include several stringprep profiles? They waste
- space!
- A#2: The stringprep profiles included are usually derived from the
- generic stringprep tables, and doesn't waste more than say a few
- hundred bytes (see profiles.c). The Unicode normalization tables
- and the generic stringprep tables are roughly equivalent in size,
- although the latter tables can surely be compressed much further.
- They occupy about 100 kilobytes on typical platforms. However,
- if in the future several large Stringprep profiles are added,
- configure options will be added to help reduce size.
- Q#3: I thought GNU was encouraging libraries to be licensed under the GPL?
- A#3: The reasoning for this was for libraries that provide unique
- functionality to encourage more free programs. Since there are
- several IDN libraries out there, using the GPL for Libidn would
- only encourage people not to use Libidn which would not help the
- spread of free software.
- Q#4: How do I add a new stringprep profile?
- A#4: Add the profile definition to profiles.c, export the symbol and
- optionally add a CPP macro in stringprep.h (and document it in
- stringprep.c). If you want to add self tests, do it through
- tst_stringprep.c. Mention it in NEWS.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
- are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
- notice and this notice are preserved.
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