interesting encryption/encoding allout problem

[Ken Manheimer]

i'm struggling with an interesting coding-system problem presented by
allout's topic encryption feature, and wondering whether anyone has
suggestions.

the problem occurs when non-ascii text, which requires an alternative
coding system, exists only within a topic or topics that are encrypted.
allout auto-encrypts unencrypted topics, and i can make allout do
select-safe-coding-system to promote the proper coding system setting
during encryption.

the problem is that encryption of the text removes the need for the
alternate coding system.  when the file is next visited, all the non-ascii
characters are encrypted, which is coding-system agnostic.  the default
coding system is used, and (unless the default happens to be tailored for
it) decryption of the topics will deliver the non-ascii text into the wrong
coding system.

perhaps the thing i'm missing is the right way to save the text so the
alternate coding system is recovered despite the absence of any text which
requires it.  is that possible?  might i need to have allout set some local
file variable to preserve the coding-system?

i think the same problem occurs for whole-buffer encryption, when some of
the encrypted text is non-ascii.
--
ken
address@hidden
http://myriadicity.net