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-----Original Message----- From: Tom Bryan [SMTP:tbryan@server.python.net] Sent: June 17, 1999 12:19 PM To: Crew List Subject: Re: [Crew] Wizards' Resolution to Zope/PIL/mxDateTime conflict?
Perhaps this discussion should be moved to the PSA list or to the comp.lang.python newsgroup. The Starship isn't going to be the only computer with this problem. We juat are going to be one of the few machines that currently has *many* third-party extensions to Python. As Python grows in popularity, this problem is only going to get worse. In the worst case scenario, people won't be able to use a Python solution because the required third-party extensions conflict and they don't want to kludge it all together themselves.
It seems to me perhaps the simplest solution is, dare I say it, Bureaucracy! Okay, now that I got you all riled up, let me explain. Right now, anyone can go write a Python package and post it up all over the place, helter-skelter. It may even appear on www.python.org. However, if I'm writing Package A and you have written package B unbeknownst to me, I might be stepping on your toes. That is to say, if my package does the same thing, so what? more choice to the hacker. The problem is when I CALL my module/package the same thing as you. It is this naming convention that needs to be cleaned up, as I see it. Rather than come up with some complex scheme of installation or some major changes to the python language, wouldn't it just be simpler to standardize our naming now, before Python does reach the 10,000,000 user mark? That is, rather then trying to come up with an installation-level solution, why not just have someone review all packages for conflicts on a first-come-first-serve basis? Set up a committee of Python certification which will basically go through each new package and install it on a max-install station. If there are no conflicts, the package is certified and the author gets official recognition. If there is conflict, a polite e-mail can be sent to the author suggesting he or she modify / change the name(s) chosen for his or her package to avoid future conflict potential.
[Other discussion snipped]
Be Seeing You,
Jeffrey.
Jeffrey, there is already a service for this, Guido set it up some time ago: go to http://www.python.org/search/ and select the link "The Python module registry at NIST". This service needs more press and perhaps more "peer pressure" from module authors. -Arcege