add utf8-string in haskell platform

[Duncan Coutts]

On Thu, 2009-05-14 at 19:07 -0700, Bryan O'Sullivan wrote:
> On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 4:23 PM, Simon Michael <simon at joyful.com>
> wrote:
>         I'd like to request that utf8-string be added to the haskell
>         platform, so that HP users can work with non-ascii text.
> 
> I'd rather this wasn't added. It's an acceptable crutch for the short
> term, but we shouldn't be using String for text manipulation, and
> bundling utf8-string implicitly blesses that approach. The text
> library needs a few weeks of polish and some more testing work for QA,
> but it'll be the right answer well before the end of this year.

I agree with Bryan. The utf8-string is a fine intermediate workaround
for the lack of decent Unicode IO in the base library and the lack of a
decent packed text representation. However both these things are on
their way and we should not standardise on a second rate solution
(despite the fact that many packages do already depend on utf8-string).

On the topic of adding things (once we've resolved the issue of API
stability in minor releases) I'd like us to get on with discussing what
we should require for new packages entering the platform. I think it's
best to decide that first, before looking at too many concrete examples
and having to reverse engineer our standards from our previous
decisions.

Duncan