def get_file_encoding(for_writing=False):
    """Returns the encoding for text file data.  This is always the same
    on all operating systems because this is the only thing that makes
    sense when wanting to make data exchange feasible.  This is utf-8 no
    questions asked.  The only simplification is that if a file is opened
    for reading then we allo utf-8-sig.
    """
    if for_writing:
        return 'utf-8'
    return 'utf-8-sig'