Python-announce-list April 2002

python-announce-list@python.org

54 participants
80 discussions

Sybase module 0.35pre1 released
by Dave Cole 21 Apr '02

21 Apr '02

What is it: The Sybase module provides a Python interface to the Sybase relational database system. It supports all of the Python Database API, version 2.0 with extensions. Notes: In this release the module uses callback instead of inline error handling from the Sybase CT library. This has caused quite extensive changes to the threading support inside the low level extension module. One of the nice side effects of using callback error handling is that server errors while executing stored procedures will now be reported correctly. FreeTDS support is much improved in this version. You will still experience segfaults while using FreeTDS though. These issues are still being worked on. For the adventurous, you can build for FreeTDS like this: python setup.py build_ext -D HAVE_FREETDS -U WANT_BULKCOPY python setup.py install The module is available here: http://www.object-craft.com.au/projects/sybase/sybase-0.35pre1.tar.gz The module home page is here: http://www.object-craft.com.au/projects/sybase/ - Dave -- http://www.object-craft.com.au

1 0

PMV, ADT and ViPEr release
by Michel F. SANNER 21 Apr '02

21 Apr '02

We are happy to announce the release 1.1alpha of PMV, ADT and ViPER. PMV is a Python-based molecular visualization and manipulation program ADT is a graphical front end to the automated docking program AutoDock ViPEr is a visual programming environment for Python. These 3 programs are all built on top a several python packages such as DejaVu, a general purpose 3D geometry visualization package, MolKit a component to deal with molecules etc ... We apologize for the long delay in puting ViPEr online after its presentation at the last Python conference. Since it shares many components with previously released tools (PMV and ADT) we had to update all the tools before releasing ViPEr. I hope the fun you'll have with ViPEr will make up for the waiting :) Download at: http://www.scripps.edu/~sanner/python/packager.html All of our programs and components are free for non commercial use. Only a small subset of the components require a license for commercial use. You can either download the complete release which contains: - a python interpreter version 1.5.2 - python packages developped in the MGL lab (platform dependent and independent) - Third party python packages (platform dependent and independent) - Applications : PMV, ADT and ViPEr. Or only the packages which contains: - python packages developped in the MGL lab (platform dependent and independent) - Third party python packages (platform dependent and independent) - Applications : PMV, ADT and ViPEr. The download "A la carte" is of course still available for the most advanced users. You can find more information on our web site : http://www.scripps.edu/~sanner/python/index.html Two mailing lists have been created pmv and pmvdev (see README.html file once you downloaded and installed our packages). For any question concerning : - the installation or PMV please contact Sophie COON (sophiec(a)scripps.edu) - ADT please contact Ruth Huey (rhuey(a)scripps.edu) - ViPEr please contact Michel Sanner (sanner(a)scripps.edu) Have Fun ! Ruth Huey, Sophie Coon, Daniel Stoffler and Michel Sanner

1 0

ANN: Twisted 0.17.4
by Itamar Shtull-Trauring 20 Apr '02

20 Apr '02

Twisted is an event-based framework for internet applications, written in Python and licensed under the LGPL. For more information, visit: http://www.twistedmatrix.com or join the list at: http://twistedmatrix.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/twisted-python What's New since 0.16.0 ======================= - NNTP support and a framework for news servers. - HTTP/1.1 now supports persistent connections and pipelining, for improved performance. - Many feature enhancements for the web framework. - Added component architecture inspired by Zope3. - Many bug fixes and feature enhancements. What is Twisted? ================ Twisted is an event-based framework for internet applications. It includes a web server, a telnet server, a chat server, a news server, a generic client and server for remote object access, and APIs for creating new protocols and services. Twisted supports integration of the Tk, GTK+, Qt or wxPython event loop with its main event loop. The Win32 event loop is also supported, as is basic support for running servers on top of Jython. Twisted currently supports the following protocols, all implemented in pure python, most of them as both servers and clients: - NNTP - FTP - HTTP - SOCKSv4 - SMTP - IRC - telnet - POP3 - AOL's instant messaging TOC - OSCAR, used by AOL-IM as well as ICQ (client only) - DNS - LDAP (client only) - finger - Echo, discard, chargen and friends - Twisted Perspective Broker For more information, visit http://www.twistedmatrix.com, or join the list at http://twistedmatrix.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/twisted-python

1 0

Developer's Guide pages on www.python.org
by Andrew Kuchling 19 Apr '02

19 Apr '02

A new section, the Python Developer's Guide, has been added at http://www.python.org/dev/ to explain how to help with Python's development. The pages also link to various developer-related resources such as the Developer FAQ, the index of PEPs, daily snapshots of the CVS tree, and other useful things. If you've been wondering "how can I contribute to Python?", I hope these pages can help get you started. --amk (www.amk.ca) The concept is simply staggering. Pointless, but staggering. -- The Doctor, in "The Pirate Planet"

1 0

ANN: The Python Manual Index
by Thomas Heller 19 Apr '02

19 Apr '02

Hi, folks. A new Python-powered search engine is online at http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/pyhelp.cgi It searches for keywords in the Python manuals at http://www.python.org/doc/. The script can also be downloaded, and can be configured to search HTML manual pages installed locally. The keyword index is build on the fly. It can also (probably) be easily integrated in your editor/ide to provide context sensitive help. Mark Hammond has integrated an interface to this keyword search in his cool Mozilla/Netscape sidebar he recently announced: http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/mozilla Regards, Thomas

1 0

[ANN] PythonCard 0.6.5
by Kevin Altis 19 Apr '02

19 Apr '02

This release includes installation instructions and walkthroughs to get you started with PythonCard, distutils support, and the layout editor (resourceEditor sample) has been enhanced to edit dialogs. New components in 0.6.5: Gauge, StaticBox, ComboBox, Spinner, RightTextField, and Calendar All the information you need about PythonCard can be found on the project web page at: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/ The installation instructions and walkthroughs are available on the main documentation page: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/documentation.html You can download the latest release at: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=19015 For a list of some of the samples that have been built with PythonCard and screenshots of them in action go to: http://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/samples.html A description of each sample is included in the readme.txt file in each sample directory. The kind people at SourceForge host the project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pythoncard/ If you want to get involved the main contact point is the Mailing list: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/pythoncard-users PythonCard requires Python 2.1.x or later and wxPython 2.3.2.1 or later and runs on every platform those are available for. wxPython can be downloaded at http://www.wxpython.org/ ka --- Kevin Altis altis(a)semi-retired.com

1 0

ANNOUNCE: Quixote 0.4.7 released
by Neil Schemenauer 18 Apr '02

18 Apr '02

Quixote 0.4.7 is now available for download from: http://www.mems-exchange.org/software/quixote/ Quixote is yet another framework for developing Web applications in Python. CHANGES in Quixote 0.4.7 ------------------------ * Move ACCESS_TIME_RESOLUTION to SessionManager class. This was another embarrassing bug introduced in 0.4.5. * In http_request.py, make the test that prevents stdin from being consumed less restrictive (e.g. for PUT methods). * Add some simple test code. -- Neil Schemenauer <nas(a)mems-exchange.org> | MEMS Exchange Software Engineer | http://www.mems-exchange.org/

1 0

RELEASED Mailman 2.0.10
by barry＠zope.com 18 Apr '02

18 Apr '02

I've just released version 2.0.10 of Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager. Mailman is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Version 2.0.10 fixes a few minor, but mostly harmless, bugs in version 2.0.9. I recommend that you upgrade, but it is not critical. Details of what's changed are included below. GNU Mailman is software to help manage electronic mail discussion lists. Mailman gives each mailing list a unique web page and allows users to subscribe, unsubscribe, and change their account options over the web. Even the list manager can administer his or her list entirely via the web. Mailman has most of the features that people want in a mailing list management system, including built-in archiving, mail-to-news gateways, spam filters, bounce detection, digest delivery, and so on. Mailman is compatible with most web servers, web browsers, and mail servers. It runs on any Unix-like operating system. Mailman 2.0.10 requires Python 1.5.2 or newer. To install Mailman from source, you will need a C compiler. For more information on Mailman, including links to file downloads, please see the Mailman web page: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman And its mirrors at: http://mailman.sourceforge.net http://www.list.org Patches and source tarballs are available at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103 There are email lists (managed by Mailman, of course!) for both Mailman users and developers. See the web sites above for details. Cheers, -Barry 2.0.10 (09-Apr-2002) - Closed another small race condition. - Add the RFC-2822 recommended Message-ID: header on internally generated outgoing messages. Not all MTAs add this field if missing (read: Qmail).

1 0

PEP 272: revision 2
by Andrew Kuchling 18 Apr '02

18 Apr '02

For good or ill, here's another revision of PEP 272 making minor changes to address some of the comments made in the previous round of discussion. I have resisted the temptation to increase the PEP's scope by adding padding, or random number generation, or public-key cryptography, because I think those should be separate PEPs. The 'Changes' section reads as follows: 2002-04: Removed references to stream ciphers; retitled PEP; prefixed feedback mode constants with MODE_; removed PGP feedback mode; added CTR and OFB feedback modes; clarified where numbers are measured in bytes and where in bits. Discussion in comp.lang.python, or on the python-crypto list, please. --amk PEP: 272 Title: API for Block Encryption Algorithms Version: $Revision: 1.7 $ Author: A.M. Kuchling <akuchlin(a)mems-exchange.org> Status: Draft Type: Informational Created: 18-Sep-2001 Post-History: 17-Apr-2002 Abstract This document specifies a standard API for secret-key block encryption algorithms such as DES or Rijndael, making it easier to switch between different algorithms and implementations. Introduction Encryption algorithms transform their input data (called plaintext) in some way that is dependent on a variable key, producing ciphertext. The transformation can easily be reversed if and only if one knows the key. The key is a sequence of bits chosen from some very large space of possible keys. There are two classes of encryption algorithms: block ciphers and stream ciphers. Block ciphers encrypt multibyte inputs of a fixed size (frequently 8 or 16 bytes long), and can be operated in various feedback modes. The feedback modes supported in this specification are: Number Constant Description 1 MODE_ECB Electronic Code Book 2 MODE_CBC Cipher Block Chaining 3 MODE_CFB Cipher Feedback 5 MODE_OFB Output Feedback 6 MODE_CTR Counter These modes are to be implemented as described in NIST publication SP 800-38A [1]. Descriptions of the first three feedback modes can also be found in Bruce Schneier's book _Applied Cryptography_ [2]. (The numeric value 4 is reserved for MODE_PGP, a variant of CFB described in RFC 2440: "OpenPGP Message Format" [3]. This mode isn't considered important enough to make it worth requiring it for all block encryption ciphers, though supporting it is a nice extra feature.) In a strict formal sense, stream ciphers encrypt data bit-by-bit; practically, stream ciphers work on a character-by-character basis. This PEP only aims at specifying an interface for block ciphers, though stream ciphers can support the interface described here by fixing 'block_size' to 1. Feedback modes also don't make sense for stream ciphers, so the only reasonable feedback mode would be ECB mode. Specification Encryption modules can add additional functions, methods, and attributes beyond those described in this PEP, but all of the features described in this PEP must be present for a module to claim compliance with it. Secret-key encryption modules should define one function: new(key, mode, [IV], **kwargs) Returns a ciphering object, using the secret key contained in the string 'key', and using the feedback mode 'mode', which must be one of the constants from the table above. If 'mode' is MODE_CBC or MODE_CFB, 'IV' must be provided and must be a string of the same length as the block size. Not providing a value of 'IV' will result in a ValueError exception being raised. Depending on the algorithm, a module may support additional keyword arguments to this function. Some keyword arguments are specified by this PEP, and modules are free to add additional keyword arguments. If a value isn't provided for a given keyword, a secure default value should be used. For example, if an algorithm has a selectable number of rounds between 1 and 16, and 1-round encryption is insecure and 8-round encryption is believed secure, the default value for 'rounds' should be 8 or more. (Module implementors can choose a very slow but secure value, too, such as 16 in this example. This decision is left up to the implementor.) The following table lists keyword arguments defined by this PEP: Keyword Meaning counter Callable object that returns counter blocks (see below; CTR mode only) rounds Number of rounds of encryption to use segment_size Size of data and ciphertext segments, measured in bits (see below; CFB mode only) The Counter feedback mode requires a sequence of input blocks, called counters, that are used to produce the output. When 'mode' is MODE_CTR, the 'counter' keyword argument must be provided, and its value must be a callable object, such as a function or method. Successive calls to this callable object must return a sequence of strings that are of the length 'block_size' and that never repeats. (Appendix B of the NIST publication gives a way to generate such a sequence, but that's beyond the scope of this PEP.) The CFB mode operates on segments of the plaintext and ciphertext that are 'segment_size' bits long. Therefore, when using this mode, the input and output strings must be a multiple of 'segment_size' bits in length. 'segment_size' must be an integer between 1 and block_size*8, inclusive. (The factor of 8 comes from 'block_size' being measured in bytes and not in bits). The default value for this parameter should be block_size*8. Implementors are allowed to constrain 'segment_size' to be a multiple of 8 for simplicity, but they're encouraged to support arbitrary values for generality. Secret-key encryption modules should define two variables: block_size An integer value; the size of the blocks encrypted by this module, measured in bytes. For all feedback modes, the length of strings passed to the encrypt() and decrypt() must be a multiple of the block size. key_size An integer value; the size of the keys required by this module, measured in bytes. If key_size is None, then the algorithm accepts arbitrary-length keys. You cannot pass a key of length 0 (that is, the null string '') as such a variable-length key. Cipher objects should have two attributes: block_size An integer value equal to the size of the blocks encrypted by this object. For algorithms with a variable block size, this value is equal to the block size selected for this object. IV Contains the initial value which will be used to start a cipher feedback mode; it will always be a string exactly one block in length. After encrypting or decrypting a string, this value is updated to reflect the modified feedback text. It is read-only, and cannot be assigned a new value. Cipher objects require the following methods: decrypt(string) Decrypts 'string', using the key-dependent data in the object and with the appropriate feedback mode. The string's length must be an exact multiple of the algorithm's block size or, in CFB mode, of the segment size. Returns a string containing the plaintext. encrypt(string) Encrypts a non-empty string, using the key-dependent data in the object, and with the appropriate feedback mode. The string's length must be an exact multiple of the algorithm's block size or, in CFB mode, of the segment size. Returns a string containing the ciphertext. Here's an example, using a module named 'DES': >>> import DES >>> obj = DES.new('abcdefgh', DES.MODE_ECB) >>> plaintext = "Guido van Rossum is a space alien." >>> len(plaintext) 34 >>> obj.encrypt(plaintext) Traceback (innermost last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? ValueError: Strings for DES must be a multiple of 8 in length >>> ciphertext = obj.encrypt(plain+'XXXXXX') # Add padding >>> ciphertext '\021,\343Nq\214DY\337T\342pA\372\255\311s\210\363,\300j\330\250\312\347\342I\3215w\03561\303dgb/\006' >>> obj.decrypt(ciphertext) 'Guido van Rossum is a space alien.XXXXXX' References [1] NIST publication SP 800-38A, "Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation" (http://csrc.nist.gov/encryption/modes/) [2] Applied Cryptography [3] RFC2440: "OpenPGP Message Format" (http://rfc2440.x42.com, http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2440.html) Changes 2002-04: Remove references to stream ciphers; retitled PEP; prefixed feedback mode constants with MODE_; removed PGP feedback mode; added CTR and OFB feedback modes; clarify where numbers are measured in bytes and where in bits. Acknowledgements Thanks to the readers of the python-crypto list for their comments on this PEP. Copyright This document has been placed in the public domain.

1 0

ActivePython 2.1.3 and ActivePython 2.2.1 released!
by Trent Mick 17 Apr '02

17 Apr '02

We are pleased to announce that versions 2.1.3 and 2.2.1 of ActivePython are now available for download from http://www.ActiveState.com/ActivePython Both of these are bugfix releases and supercede previous ActivePython releases. ActivePython is ActiveState's quality-assured binary build of Python. Builds are currently available for Windows and Linux (Solaris builds are coming soon). In addition to the core, ActivePython features: * expat for XML processing; * zlib for data compression; * Tkinter for Tk development; * a large set of useful Python documentation; and, * on Windows, Mark Hammond's PyWin32 extensions, including the Pythonwin IDE, support for Python ASP, the PythonCOM system. In addition, PyPPM (the Python Package Manager) enables you to easily install a number of other popular Python packages. For example, try this: > pyppm install Numeric to install Numeric Python. Use this command to list all available packages: > pyppm search Please submit email feedback to ActivePython-feedback(a)ActiveState.com, and file bugs against ActivePython at http://bugs.ActiveState.com/ActivePython. Thanks, and enjoy! Trent -- Trent Mick TrentM(a)ActiveState.com

1 0

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

Python-announce-list April 2002