On Fri, 6 May 2016 at 16:58 Nathaniel Smith <njs@pobox.com> wrote:
On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 11:14 AM, Brett Cannon <brett@python.org> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, 6 May 2016 at 09:40 Donald Stufft <donald@stufft.io> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On May 6, 2016, at 12:36 PM, Brett Cannon <brett@python.org> wrote:
>>
>> So who is the BDFL on this decision? It seems we need someone to stop the
>> bikeshedding on the field name and what file is going to house this
>> configuration data. And do we need someone to write a PEP for this proposal
>> to have something to target?
>>
>>
>> We need someone to write the PEP and someone to offer to be BDFL for it.
>> For this particular change the default would be Nick for BDFL but if he’s
>> busy someone else can take it over for this PEP. Though I think we need
>> someone writing an actual PEP first.
>
>
> OK, assuming the Nick will be pronouncing, who wants to write the PEP?

And Paul also stepped forward to pronounce if Nick didn't want to, so we have the role of Great Decider covered one way or another.
 

I've just been writing up a comparison of the different file formats,
partly in case it's useful to others and partly just for my own use in
looking at them against each other and seeing how much it actually
matters. This might also be reusable for the
rationale/rejected-alternatives section of a PEP, if anyone wants it,
or I could go ahead and add a few paragraphs to turn it into a proper
PEP.

 What does the PEP need to cover?
  1. The syntax of the file (which based on the replies to your great overview, Nathaniel, looks to be TOML).
  2. The name of the file (although I'm assuming it will be setup.* out of tradition, probably setup.toml if TOML wins the format battle).
  3. What fields there will be and their semantics ...
    1. Format version (so just deciding on a name -- which also includes whether it should be top-level or in a subsection -- and initial value)
    2. The actual bootstrap field (so its name and what to do if a dependency is already installed but at a version that doesn't match what the bootstrap specification asks for)
Am I missing anything? And since I keep pushing on this I'm willing to be a co-author on any PEP if there's no hard deadline in getting the PEP written (i.e. I can help write the prose, but I don't have the time to do the coding as this will be the fourth PEP I have going in some state; got to catch up to Nick's 35 PEPs somehow ;).