GNU bug report logs - #28242
Batch mode compiling: Error messages are displayed with "invalid character" glyph bounding symbols.

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Alan Mackenzie <acm <at> muc.de>
Cc: 28242 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#28242: Batch mode compiling: Error messages are displayed with "invalid character" glyph bounding symbols.
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2017 14:38:12 -0700

Alan Mackenzie wrote:

>> Then you'll need to fix your setup to get GCC working, as well as Emacs.
> 
> I will get around to that in good time.

When that happens, the issue should be fixed for both GCC and Emacs, even in an 
UTF-8 locale.

> It remains a problem for all
> those working with the standard Linux font.

It is by no means the "standard" font. Hardly anybody uses it on Linux any more. 
I have to go to some work to try it out myself, on either Ubuntu or Fedora. The 
few people who use Linux console fonts are generally aware of these issues and 
it is not hard to address them.

> There was a time when Emacs was a leader, not a follower.

In this case the issue seems to be whether Emacs should "lead" us back to the 
1980s, when PCs had inferior fonts.

> Stop being idiotic.

It is not at all an idiotic suggestion. ISO 646 permits countries to usurp grave 
accent. For example, old-design French monitors display grave accent as a micro 
sign (µ), to conform to the French NF Z 62-010 profile for ISO 646. Again, I 
don't think Emacs should take trouble to cater to old designs like this. 
However, if we do it then it's safer and more portable for Emacs to avoid 
routine use of grave accent in its batch diagnostics, as grave accent is 
mishandled more often than apostrophe is. This is because ISO 646 usurps grave 
accent but not apostrophe.

> How about allowing the user to configure this

It is configurable already; just set LC_ALL=C in the environment. This should 
fix the issue for both Emacs and GCC.

PS. Rhetoric like "Stop being idiotic" is not helpful here.

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