Comment 11 for bug 1940283

The dbLex.l parser doesn't try to understand UTF-8 and will accept any characters from \x80-\xff in the string for the second parameter of a field() or info() entry. If you want us to keep that behavior you should generate a PR adding tests for that capability, with comments in the test giving the reasoning for them.

What happens to a string after it has been saved by dbPutString() or dbPutInfo() may be more challenging though. If a field is a JSON link it's parsed during iocInit() by the yajl parser, and that probably does require the string to be valid UTF-8. Similarly the QSRV code which parses info tags named "Q:group" uses the yajl parser. I think your update to the dbpf command calls the yajl parser so value strings there may have to be UTF-8, etc.