class File
  class << self
    alias_method :original_join, :join
  end

  def self.join(*args)
    new_args = args.collect { |questionableEncoding|
      join_encoding_fix(questionableEncoding)
    }
    self.send(:original_join, new_args)
  end

  def self.join_encoding_fix(value)
    if (value.instance_of?(String))
      value = self.convert(value)
    elsif (value.instance_of?(Array))
      value = value.collect { |subValue|
        join_encoding_fix(subValue)
      }
    end
    value
  end

  #
  # Ruby 1.8.7 requires the iconv library for string encoding
  # Ruby 1.9.3 uses the default encode method on string.
  #
  def self.convert(value)
    if value.respond_to? :encode
      value.encode("UTF-8")
    else
      require 'iconv'
      iconv = Iconv.new('ISO-8859-1', 'utf-8')
      iconv.iconv(value)
    end
  end
end