Question about GdkPixbuf functions with a _utf8 suffix

[vmagnin (Vincent Magnin)]

In that file:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdk-pixbuf/-/blob/master/gdk-pixbuf/gdk-pixbuf-core.h
there are a few functions with an additional _utf8 suffix when built for Windows: gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_utf8, gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_utf8, gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_at_scale_utf8, gdk_pixbuf_savev_utf8

They are defined with a directive:

#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
/* In previous versions these _utf8 variants where exported and linked to
 * by default. Export them here for ABI (and gi API) compat.
 */

GDK_PIXBUF_AVAILABLE_IN_ALL
GdkPixbuf *gdk_pixbuf_new_from_file_utf8 (const char *filename,
                                          GError    **error);
...

and there is also a variadic function:

#ifndef __GTK_DOC_IGNORE__
#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
/* DLL ABI stability hack. */
#define gdk_pixbuf_save gdk_pixbuf_save_utf8
#endif
#endif

GDK_PIXBUF_AVAILABLE_IN_ALL
gboolean gdk_pixbuf_save           (GdkPixbuf  *pixbuf, 
                                    const char *filename, 
                                    const char *type, 
                                    GError    **error,
                                    ...) G_GNUC_NULL_TERMINATED;

On Windows, are we obliged to use those *_utf8 functions ? Or are they still there only for compatibility with old stuff?

[ebassi (Emmanuele Bassi)]

No: you should always use the regular, non-_utf8 API. The _utf8 API is there for ABI compatibility reasons.

Internally, gdk-pixbuf will call the correct implementation depending on the platform; those symbols should not have been made public in the first place, but it’s a 20+ years old issue that cannot really be fixed without breaking API—which is something that won’t ever happen, at this point.

[vmagnin (Vincent Magnin)]

Thanks a lot @ebassi for this precise answer (as always) that will simplify my work on my binding.