[webkit-gtk] ICU huuuuuuuuge

[Xan]

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 10:35 PM, Martin Robinson <mrobinson at webkit.org> wrote:
> 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. :)

That's it in a nutshell, it has a number of bugs, and it's probably
slower than the ICU backend. As a general rule, please *do not* change
the default options for webkitgtk+ in distributions unless you have
extremely good reasons to do so. We choose them for a reason.

Xan