SCOWL works on Windows with Python UTF-8 mode

[BDubDesigns]

Summary

The README states "A Unix-like environment is also required for now." However, SCOWLv2 builds successfully on Windows using Python's UTF-8 mode.

Steps to reproduce

1. Clone the repo on Windows
2. Ensure Python 3.7+ is installed
3. Run: python -X utf8 combine.py create-db scowl.db

The -X utf8 flag forces Python to use UTF-8 for all I/O, which resolves the encoding issue with accented characters (e.g., abbé in scowl-pre.txt).

Environment

• Windows 11
• Python 3.13.5
• No WSL or Unix-like environment required

Suggestion

Consider updating the README to note that Windows is supported with the -X utf8 flag, or that PYTHONUTF8=1 can be set as an environment variable. This may help other Windows users who encounter the encoding error.

[kevina]

Thank you for the update. I will update the README.

[C0rn3j]

Just a note - Python 3.15 defaults to UTF-8 - so that will at least eventually solve itself even without workarounds/fixes.