Windows VM ignores image argument with non-ASCII chars

[JanBliznicenko]

Windows VM does not open an image if the image path argument contains non-ASCII characters.

An example where
a.image opens
á.image does not:

The problem occurs if the non-ASCII char is anywhere in the image path argument provided to the Pharo.exe, no matter whether the path is absolute or relative and whether such character is in the mage file name or directory name.

It works in case the containing directory has non-ASCII chars, but the directory is current directory and we use relative path that only contains ASCII chars. All that matters is the string passed as an argument, not the actual full absolute path.

Tested on:
Windows 11
VM 10.0.0.8
Pharo image 11

EDIT: Still present in Pharo 13 and latest VM as of 1.11.2024

Issue is not present on Linux.

[guillep]

Thanks @JanBliznicenko we will look into it.

[tesonep]

Thanks so much @JanBliznicenko, I have checked and the problem is that the arguments are parsed correctly and handled the UTF-8, but the MINGW implementation of the std C Lib is not fully UTF-8, we need to see how to fix that. One solution is to use Window specific calls for them or use the MSVC implementation. Eventually we are moving to use MSVC and leave MINGW behind, but I will try to have a solution before.