Mailman 3 September 2003 - Python-announce-list

ANN: Naja 0.8.7 is now available
by support＠keyphrene.com 26 Sep '03

26 Sep '03

Naja is a freeware tool written in Python/wxPython. Naja is a download manager and a website grabber. It can be used for extract articles from news server. Naja supports proxy (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SOCKS v4a, SOCKS v5). The downloading maybe achieved by splitting the file being downloaded into several parts and downloading these parts at the same time (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP). Donwload speeds are increased by downloading the file from the mirrors sites, when the sites propose it. Others features: Csv filter Cheksums (CRC32, MD5, SHA1) Web Interface (take control since your office) Mirroring (Multiples Choices) Naja is available for download from the Keyphrene web site: http://www.keyphrene.com/products/naja

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PyCon Announcement: Mitch Kapor is opening keynote speaker
by PyCon Chair 26 Sep '03

26 Sep '03

[Apologies to people who see this twice; there was a glitch in the original sending.] Mitch Kapor to Keynote PyCon DC 2004 ------------------------------------ Washington, DC, September 24, 2003 The Python Software Foundation announced today that Mitch Kapor will be the opening keynote speaker for their second US Python community conference next March. Mr. Kapor is well known as a co-founder of Lotus Development Corporation and as a co-founder and the first chairman of the San Francisco-based Electronic Freedom Foundation, and has been an active entrepreneur in information technology for many years. More recently he founded the Open Software Applications Foundation (OSAF - see http://www.osafoundation.org/). The OSAF is using Python to build Chandler, an open source Personal Information Manager. PyCon is a community-oriented conference for developers of Python applications and for those with an interest in the development of the Python programming language. It offers the opportunity to learn about significant advances in Python's uses and development community, to participate in a programming sprint with some of the leading minds in the Open Source community, and to meet fellow developers from around the world. The organizers work to make the conference affordable and accessible to all. Pycon DC 2004 will be held March 24-26, 2004 in Washington, D.C. There will be a four-day development sprint before the conference. Volunteers interested in helping to run PyCon should subscribe to the organizers mailing list at http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-organizers Don't miss any PyCon announcements! Subscribe at http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-announce You can discuss PyCon with other interested people by subscribing at http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-interest The central resource for PyCon DC 2004 is http://www.python.org/pycon/dc2004/ -- Aahz (aahz(a)pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code." --Bill Harlan

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PyZine is looking for article proposals
by mark＠pyzine.com 25 Sep '03

25 Sep '03

Hello all, As you will have likely heard or read beehive has taken over the responsibility to publish PyZine. Read more about this here: http://www.pyzine.com/MigrationFAQ.html beehive is looking for article proposals for Issue 5 (January to March) edition of PyZine We pay for all articles that we publish. To read more about our writers guidelines please see: http://www.pyzine.com/writefor.html Hope to hear from many of you! Regards, Mark

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ANN: Anobind 0.6.0
by Uche Ogbuji 25 Sep '03

25 Sep '03

This release adds namespace support and a whitespace stripping rule. There has ben some internal restructuring. ________________________________________________________________________ http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/4Suite/anobind Anobind is a Python/XML data binding, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a very Pythonic XML API. You feed Anobind an XML document and it returns a data structure of corresponding Python objects. For example, the document <monty> <python spam="eggs">What do you mean "bleh"</python> <python ministry="abuse">But I was looking for argument</python> </monty> Would become a set of objects so that you could write binding.monty.python.spam In order to get the value "eggs" or binding.monty.python[1].text_content() binding.monty.python[1].text_content() In order to get the value "But I was looking for argument". There are other such tools for Python, and what makes Anobind unique is that it's driven by a very declarative rules-based system for binding XML to the Python data. One can register rules that are triggered by XPatterns or plain Python code in order to register specialized binding behavior. It also offers XPath support and some support for round-tripping documents. Anobind is open source, provided under the 4Suite variant of the Apache license. It requires Python 2.2.2 and 4Suite 1.0a3. -- Uche Ogbuji Fourthought, Inc. http://uche.ogbuji.net http://4Suite.org http://fourthought.com Introducing Anobind - http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/08/13/py-xml.html XML Topic Maps by the book - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think19.html Charming Jython - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jython.html Python, Web services, and XSLT - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/ws-pyth13/ Perspective on XML: What is this 'agility'? - http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=8004

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Py is Dead! Long live Py!
by bryan＠pyzine.com 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

Like the mythic Phoenix, Py, the independent technical zine for Python developers, is flaming out to re-emerge more spectacular than before. beehive KG (http://www.beehive-eu.com/) will be a taking over the publishing responsibilities for upcoming issues of Py. beehive is committed to Py and Python, they currently publish the popular ZopeMag (www.zopemag.com). Welcome them with open arms, they're going to do a great job. I know I certainly couldn't be more happy. Py was a labor of love -- more labor than love really -- and it's good to know that it is in such capable hands. I suspect the online format and larger issues will be a great improvement and will allow Py to reach a wider audience. A migration FAQ will be posted shortly at www.pyzine.com. Thanks to everyone for everything. And we fade out to the forced context of a Dylan song, Was it me that shot him down in the cantina Was it my hand that held the gun? Come, let us fly, my Magdalena The dogs are barking and what's done is done. [1] Be well, Bryan Richard Founder, Py [1] Romance in Durango

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ANN: texd04 and the PyTeX project
by Jonathan Fine 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

1. Introduction Python is an elegant object oriented scripting language. TeX is a high quality typesetting program. Both texd and PyTeX are Python projects that use TeX (or TeX projects that use Python). 2. texd texd is TeX run as a daemon. By removing the startup cost, texd can process small files about 30 times quicker than TeX run as a batch program. This allows TeX to be used as the typesetting engine of interactive programs. We are pleased to announce that version 0.4 of texd is available at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/texd/ The distribution consists of 5 files README dlatex.sty formats.py story.py texd04.py If not already present, the README will show up on the Sourceforge CVS server in a day or so. It provides a callable function interface to TeX, and a sample interactive demonstration of how TeX's paragraph parameters work (written using Tk). For ease of development, this version of texd has been written in Python. It should run on any recent Debian Linux, provided * Python 2.2 or better * Tk for Python * TeX are installed. For other Linux distributions, or Unix, more work may be required - see the README. If you are interested in texd, please visit: http://sourceforge.net/projects/texd There is a developers mailing list for texd: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/texd-devel I'd like discussion relating to texd to be copied to this list, whenever appropriate. 3. PyTeX PyTeX is a project to use Python as the scripting front end to TeX typesetting. Think of Tcl/Tk. Tcl is a front end to the Tk toolkit. Now think of LaTeX as La/TeX. La is a TeX macro front end to the TeX typesetting program. Now think of PyTeX as Py/TeX. That's what PyTeX is. For more information about PyTeX visit: http://www.pytex.org http://sourceforge.net/projects/texd Right now, I've no objections at all if PyTeX discussion took place on the texd-devel list. In fact, I'd like it, because TeX as a callable function is a setting where we really need PyTeX. Jonathan Fine jfine(a)pytex.org

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Announcement: ActiveState acquired by Sophos
by David Ascher 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

To the Python community -- As some of you have heard by now, ActiveState was acquired yesterday by Sophos Plc, a UK-based global anti-virus company, as described in this press release: http://www.activestate.com/Corporate/Communications/Releases/Press106436449… and in this open letter to ActiveState customers: http://www.activestate.com/corporate/letter/. I figure that many of you who know about ActiveState's background in the open source community probably have questions regarding what this means for ActiveState's future, and the future of Python at ActiveState. In short, there is no downside, only great opportunities. What will not change: - Our line of tools, language distributions and enterprise support for open source programming languages will continue to be developed and evolve with customer needs. - Our involvement in the open source language communities will continue as before. - All of the ActiveState staff is retained in the acquisition. - The Vancouver, BC office is poised to expand, not shrink. - Email addresses, phone numbers, etc. will continue to function as before. What will change: - ActiveState will now have a broader global impact and access to the resources of a larger company with a great deal of experience helping businesses secure their networks. - Our PureMessage anti-spam product will be integrated with the Sophos MailMonitor product and be sold as Sophos PureMessage, while the rest of our product line will still be sold under the ActiveState banner. - ActiveState is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sophos, with a focused mission to providing tools and services for users of open source programming languages. I want to point out to this audience in particular that the acquisition of ActiveState is a success story for open source programming technologies. It is in part thanks to our use of programming languages like Perl, Python and Tcl _and_ to our involvement in the programming communities around these languages that we've been able to quickly build and sell enterprise-grade software such as PureMessage, as well as very successful programming tools like Komodo, the Perl Dev Kit, etc. I'm glad to say that Sophos appreciates this and is looking to expand the use of these technologies in the larger company, not shrink it. Score one for the good guys! While I have to get back to work (on the usual things, like adding Python features to Komodo, help plan the next release of ActivePython, help plan for PyCon 2004, iron out legal issues for the PSF and a few other things like that), I'll be monitoring these lists, and welcome email questions as well -- send them to me at DavidA(a)ActiveState.com. Cheers, and see you all at PyCon 2004! -- David Ascher ActiveState, a division of Sophos

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ANN - HarvestMan 1.2 rc1
by pythonguy＠Hotpop.com 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

HarvestMan, the desktop webcrawler program written in python is released 1.2 rc1 (Release Candidate 1). Changes in this release ======================= o Support for controlling number of network connections o Project timeouts/fixed bugs in early project exits o Many bug fixes. The project page is moved to http://harvestman.freezope.org and has a Changelog, source code and documentation. -ABP

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ANN: tiff2sth 0.2 - a tool for reading Cocoa TIFFs and converting with PIL
by Dinu Gherman 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

This is to announce tiff2sth, a tool/module to convert TIFF files to something else, namly other bitmap formats by using PIL on Mac OS X. Doing so allows PIL to read such converted files which otherwise it would not be able to. Please see the Readme below. Regards, Dinu -- Dinu C. Gherman ...................................................................... "Of course America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up." (Oscar Wilde) tiff2sth ======== Summary ------- A tool for converting Cocoa TIFFs on Mac OS X to other bitmap formats. Overview -------- This module/tool is a first attempt at converting TIFF files created on Mac OS X using the Cocoa classes NSImage and NSBitmapRep to other bitmap formats, like JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc. The conversion is delegated to PIL, the Python Imaging Library. Basics ------ Because PIL is used for generating the destination bitmap, all of its formats are available in principle. In practice, only JPEG, GIF and PNG have been tested with the current code. BMP would require small modifications only (removing the alpha channel). History ------- :0.2: first release Requirements ------------ You need PyObjC [1]_ and PIL [2]_ (both free) to run tiff2sth. Licence ------- tiff2sth is released under the GPL - see the included file, "GPL.txt". Download -------- The tiff2sth distribution, including two PDF input samples and TIFF output samples, as well as a few tests, is available from: http://python.net/~gherman/tiff2sth.html Notes ------ This is a crude hack and does not perform any checks whatsoever with respect to compression, multi-TIFF files, etc. etc. But it does work on the vanilla TIFFs I'm generating using Cocoa. More features might be added later as needed. The whole issue of writing this code is that PIL, up to version 1.1.4, cannot read TIFF files generated from the Cocoa AppKit. You can use tiff2sth, though, to generate files in a TIFF format which PIL does understand and is able to reload (you just have to provide '.tif' as extension for the destination file). Future ------ More features and sanity checks might be added later as needed. Links ----- .. [1] http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net .. [2] http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil Author ------ Dinu Gherman, dinu at mac dot com, 2003-09-24

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RELEASED Python 2.3.1
by Anthony Baxter 24 Sep '03

24 Sep '03

On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm happy to announce the release of Python 2.3.1 (final). Python 2.3.1 is a pure bug fix release of Python 2.3, released in late July. A number of obscure crash-causing bugs have been fixed, various memory leaks have been squished, but no new features have been added to the language or to the library. For more information on Python 2.3.1, including download links for various platforms, release notes, and known issues, please see: http://www.python.org/2.3.1 Highlights of this new release include: - Bugfixes - The Windows installer now ships with documentation in searchable htmlhelp format, rather than individual HTML files. Highlights of the previous major Python release (2.3) are available from the Python 2.3 page, at http://www.python.org/2.3/highlights.html This release was the work of a number of dedicated python-dev folks who took the time to apply bugfixes back to the 2.3 code. The community owes them many thanks for this work. Enjoy the new release, Anthony Anthony Baxter anthony(a)python.org Python 2.3.1 Release Manager (on behalf of the entire python-dev team)

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