Helper functions for conversions that are locale independent · gazebosim/gz-common#233

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Description

Desired behavior

Different software in the Ignition family uses all kind of C/C++ functions to convert between types that are locale dependent and make functionality to fail under non C locales. Examples are:

Trying to complete the list (split due to limitations in github search) based on https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Parsing-of-Numbers.html:

Alternatives considered

There is a native function in C++17 https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/to_chars which is not available in all supported platforms at this time. The boost::lexical_cast could be an option but would be ideal not to depend on boost if possible.

Implementation suggestion

I think that the best approach would be to implement helper functions that encapsulate the implementation in this ign-common repository. The implementation can rely on to_chars if C++17 is available or use other workarounds (see https://github.com/ros/urdfdom_headers/pull/42).

A similar work was done for sdformat years ago. Following the locale_fix test can lead to details.

Contributor guide

Research direction: Review the linked locale fix test in sdformat and existing PRs for implementation patterns. Then create helper functions in gz common that wrap locale independent conversions using to chars if available, or fallback methods.
Tech stack: cpp
Domain: backend
Issue type: Feature
Difficulty: 3
Estimated time: 1-2 days
Activity status: Active
Clarity: Clear
Prerequisites: C++Git
Newbie friendliness: 50