> you aren't the first person to find this behavior undesirable, and when i 
> implemented it, it was more of "let's save space on things i don't think 
> anyone will use".  but if people are using it, then installing these things 
> probably makes sense.
> -mike

I concede to being somewhat confused on how all the various pieces
integrate, but iconv seems like an increasingly useful piece, even if
only in a flawed capability that supports only 7 bit to UTF-8 and vice
versa.

Some experimentation with latest uclibc suggests that it has some
working iconv capability, although it appears to also cause a limited
locale implementation to be pulled in (which I really don't have a
requirement for).  I haven't tried to use it in anger, but for example
it allows a bunch of ebuilds to compile which previously moaned about
missing iconv implementations (admitedly those with tests claiming that
the uclibc iconv is incomplete...)

Just my (rather ignorant) 2p

Ed