Is there an easy way (for me that would mean "can I do it in an English locale) to create
a project with special chars in the name?

I don’t understand exactly what you mean. To reproduce the bug it would be enough to copy & pase the name in my bug report.

Or on mac you can compose these chars(i wonder this works in every locale). For example: ü with ALT+U and then u.

The problem is that sometimes we're unable to build a project with unicode name. Debugging is ok.
Steps to reproduce:
- create a new C/C++ Application with the name "Test für Test"
- right-click on Source files and add a new Main C++ file, leave the name intact
- try to build the project

get an error:

/usr/sfw/bin/gmake -f nbproject/Makefile-Debug.mk SUBPROJECTS= .build-conf
gmake[1]: Entering directory `/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test f?r Test1'
gmake[1]: Warning: File `nbproject/Makefile-impl.mk' has modification time 54 s in the future
/usr/sfw/bin/gmake  -f nbproject/Makefile-Debug.mk dist/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86/test_f_r_test1
gmake[2]: Entering directory `/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test f?r Test1'
gmake[2]: Warning: File `nbproject/Makefile-impl.mk' has modification time 54 s in the future
mkdir -p dist/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86
g++     -o dist/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86/test_f_r_test1
build/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86/_ext/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test_f?r_Test1/../Test_f?r_Test1/newmain.o  
g++: build/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86/_ext/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test_f?r_Test1/../Test_f?r_Test1/newmain.o: No such
file or directory
g++: no input files
gmake[2]: *** [dist/Debug/GNU-Solaris-x86/test_f_r_test1] Error 1
gmake[2]: Leaving directory `/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test f?r Test1'
gmake[1]: *** [.build-conf] Error 2
gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/home/eu155513/NetBeansProjects/Test f?r Test1'
gmake: *** [.build-impl] Error 2

Build failed. Exit value 2.

For some reason newfile was added like a file with absolute filename...

I can not reproduce this issue on Linux where UTF is used. It appears on Windows where "Test für Test" can not be opened
with cygwin. My attempt to clean and build the project finished with exception:

java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=267, Íåâåðíî çàäàíî èìÿ ïàïêè
	at java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
	at java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(ProcessImpl.java:81)
	at java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:30)
	at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:452)
Caused: java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "C:\Program Files\NetBeans Dev 200808120201\cnd2\bin\stdouterr.bat" (in
directory "D:\working\nb_dev_working\Test für Test"): CreateProcess error=267, Íåâåðíî çàäàíî èìÿ ïàïêè
	at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:459)
	at org.openide.execution.NbProcessDescriptor.exec(NbProcessDescriptor.java:199)
	at org.netbeans.modules.cnd.execution.LocalNativeExecution.executeCommand(LocalNativeExecution.java:141)
	at org.netbeans.modules.cnd.api.execution.NativeExecutor.run(NativeExecutor.java:216)
[catch] at org.netbeans.core.execution.RunClassThread.run(RunClassThread.java:151)

I believe that the root cause is 'copy/paste'ing a name from browser where UTF is used to IDE while project creation as
everything works fine if I create localized name manually (by typing e.g. in Russian).  

1) create Welcome project but use this project name: 'Test für Test' (cut & patse from here)
2) build project (works fine)
3) Try and run it. It fails with:
/bin/bash: line 5: /Users/thp/NetBeansProjects/Test für Test/dist/Debug/GNU-MacOSX/test_f_r_test: No such file or directory
/bin/bash: line 5: exec: /Users/thp/NetBeansProjects/Test für Test/dist/Debug/GNU-MacOSX/test_f_r_test: cannot execute: No such file or directory
4) try and debug it. Debugger fail to launch app with no error messages.

OVer to Andrew for the run part.

I cannot reproduce the original problem. 
I *think* that the problem could occur in case when filesystem doesn't support used charset, for example... 
Also I see problems when cygwin is used and project name contains special characters that doesn't fit used locale (ru,
cp1251). But this is the problem of cygwin, not ours.

$ ls -la 
drwx------+ 2 Andrew  None 0 Nov 5 14:45 Test1
??????????? ? ?       ?    ?           ? Test ? Test
$ ls Test*
ls: cannot access Test ? Test: No such file or directory
Test1:
Makefile build dist nbproject welcome.cc welcome.h


It works OK with chars from cp1251 (build/run/debug).


Soo...  mrdoe,

my question is:
Can you build/compile/debug your project outside the IDE? 
If no - then it's not an IDE issue - you need to setup your environment (OS, filesystem, tools) correctly.
If this misbehavior appears from the IDE only, then it's our problem - but in this case I need more info.

waiting for users reply...