[Python-ideas] Add from __experimental__ import bla [was: Should we move to replace re with regex?]

[Nick Coghlan]

On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 12:03 PM, alex23 <wuwei23 at gmail.com> wrote:
> There was talk of making the standard library standalone. I think
> having a similar metapackage for experimental modules would be a more
> elegant way of achieving this.

The key benefit lies in ensuring that anything in the mooted
experimental namespace is clearly under python-dev's aegis from at
least the following perspectives:
- licensing (i.e. redistributed by the PSF under a Contributor
Licensing Agreement)
- testing (i.e. the module test suites are run on the python.org
buildbot fleet and results published via
http://www.python.org/dev/buildbot)
- issue management (i.e. bugs and feature requests are handled on
http://bugs.python.org)
- source control (i.e. the master repository for the software is
published on http://hg.python.org)

Those are the things that will allow the experimental modules to be
used under existing legal approvals that allow the use of Python
itself (e.g. in a corporate or governmental environment).

Handling the actual packaging for distribution is a somewhat
orthogonal question. Whether we offer 3 installers (CPython core,
standard library, experimental), 2 installers (CPython core + stdlib,
experimental) or 1 monolithic installer, or a combination of those
approaches, doesn't actually change the surrounding legal framework
all that much.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia