[tex-live] locale dependent writing to log/terminal is *broken*

[Karl Berry]

    As an example, the Aogonek (0xa1) is printable in the polish locale
    on Linux. It's tcx-translation (char 0x81) is not printable in that
    locale. So, tex outputs ^^81 instead of the Aogonek to terminal and log.

I'm sorry, but I'm confused by your example.  If one uses a tcx file
that maps 0xa1 to 0x81, then why shouldn't TeX output ^^81?  Isn't that
exactly what it was told to do?

Or are you saying that 0x81 should be "printable"?  I don't see how the
printability of 0xa1 enters into it.

    > That means, that not the caracter to be printed is checked, but something
    > else. That's wrong and that explains Staszek's gerbage.

Was this bug in previous versions, or did we introduce it?

If it's in previous versions, I must say, I'm inclined just to let it
stand, annoying as that is.

Aside from Yet Another round of rebuilds (difficult to complete by 9/22,
I would hazard to guess), what worries me is that we will find some
other interaction with the TeX "printable" system and that we've made
things worse ...