[webkit-gtk] ICU huuuuuuuuge

[Martin Robinson]

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 1:28 PM, Cedric Sodhi <manday at gmx.net> wrote:
> Thank you Martin. I'll propose this to the gentoo repositories. Might
> you in a word or two sum up what will be the effective different
> outcome?

The GLib unicode API uses iconv underneath. It doesn't yet pass the
same number of layout tests as our ICU backend. There is also a
performance penalty, since it uses UTF-8 internally, while
JavaScriptCore/WebCore/WebKit uses UTF-16. I don't know if anyone has
yet explored what this penalty is.

Furthermore, there are some limitations in the GLib unicode API with
respect to case folding. For instance, ICU can fold ü into u, which is
useful when doing full text searches on a page.

In my opinion, the GLib unicode backend is functional, but not at the
appropriate place to be the default at the moment. Others on the list
may have more detailed information / dissenting opinions. :)

--Martin