> but look at this (using setuptools 8)
>
>>>> '1.7.dev1' in pkg_resources.Requirement.parse('foo>=1.7')
> False
>>>> '1.7.dev1' in pkg_resources.Requirement.parse('foo<=1.7')
> True

I believe the first example is a consequence of the following two
excerpts from the PEP [...] In both cases (by (2) above), you

are supposed to compare the
candidate version "1.7.dev1" with the specified version "1.7".

yes, I agree with you. : )

my 2 examples weren't meant to exemplify the inconsistency I was referring to.

they were intended to be response to you quoting the bit about "implicitly excluded"

Because the 2nd example was True, they're not implicitly excluded.

For fear that my current point is lost now (since it's changed from the original title), I'm going to start a new thread that sums it up real brief...

Marcus