> There are continual problems with DBD::CSV, because the
> column descriptions that work well in spreadsheets don't
> map directly to valid SQL column names.

Text::CSV_XS won't care about valid SQL names, that part is added by DBD::CSV and is easily handled. From the DBD::CSV pod:

"you can supply an array ref of column names with the col_names attribute."

> It would also be good to allow extended characters by
> default.

Yes, that will be the case.