Mailman 3 July 2004 - Python-announce-list

py2exe 0.5.3 released
by Thomas Heller July 23, 2004

July 23, 2004

**py2exe 0.5.3** released =================================== py2exe is a Python distutils extension which converts python scripts into executable windows programs, able to run without requiring a python installation. Console and Windows (GUI) applications, windows NT services, exe and dll COM servers are supported. This release fixes a few bugs in the 0.5.2 version: * The windows installer has been fixed to avoid problems when doing non-admin installs. Thanks to Harald A. Massa for testing. * Applied a patch from Mark Hammond to correctly manage the thread state in dll COM servers. * Add a line feed to the script's code, to avoid problems byte-compiling it when it contains trailing white space. * Fix a problem with Python 2.4 when no extension modules are needed - py2exe didn't track down that python24.dll is needed. py2exe 0.5.2 is a bugfix release. * Print a message explaining what's going on whan a service exe is started from the command line. * py2exe did build invalid version resources, they didn't show up correctly on Win98 at least. Patch by Roger Upole. * Fix a buffer overflow in the C code. Patch by Ralf Sieger, closes bug item #893310 * py2exe now (again) has a builtin list of dlls which should never be distributed * Patch sys.winver in the distributed pythonXY.dll, so that there is no possibility of conflicts with existing distributions and the registry keys found there. Patch by Mark Hammond. * Fix several problems when an exception in a 'windows' exe occurs. * Include a workaround for unbounded recursion in modulefinder when Jason Jorendorff's path module is installed See also http://python.org/sf/876278 * Fix problems when package_dir is set in the setup script, see http://tinyurl.com/yuc5l * py2exe can now be built from the sources with mingw32 * py2exe does now handle precompile .pyo and .pyc files (patch by Shane Holloway) * Fix a problem when the exe's directory contains single quotes * Register service dependencies when installing a service * Return an exit code of 255 from the exe when there's an uncatched exception running the main script. * Print a warning instead of failing to build with weird version numbers. Suggested by Cory Dodt. Homepage: <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/py2exe> Download from the usual location: <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=15583> Enjoy, Thomas

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ctypes 0.9.0 released
by Thomas Heller July 23, 2004

July 23, 2004

ctypes 0.9.0 released ===================== Overview ctypes is a ffi (Foreign Function Interface) package for Python. It allows to call functions exposed from dlls/shared libraries and has extensive facilities to create, access and manipulate simpole and complicated C data types transparently from Python - in other words: wrap libraries in pure Python. ctypes runs on Windows, MacOS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD. It may also run on other systems, provided that libffi supports this platform. Changes in 0.9.0 ctypes now requires Python 2.3 or higher, Python 2.2 is no longer supported. The big change is that ctypes now uses the same code base on all platforms, many, many bug should have been fixed this way on non-windows systems. The destribution now contains libffi, no need to find, download, build and install a compatible version. There have been lots of improvements and additions both to ctypes itself, and to the ctypes.com windows framework, too many to remember now and document here. Most prominent additions to ctypes.com are: A ctypes.com.client module supporting dynamic dispatch An internet explorer toolband sample Many improvements to the stoplite sample Detailed changelogs are in CVS (well, sometimes I forget to update them): <http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD> <http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/ctypes/ctypes/win32/com/ChangeLog?rev…> Future plans The ultimate purpose of the 0.9 release series is to shake out the remaining bugs, especially on platforms I have no access to, and to target a rock stable ctypes 1.0 release. When ctypes 1.0 is released, the com framework will be split off into a separate framework named 'comtypes'. Download Downloads are available in the sourceforge files section <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=71702> Separate source distributions are available for windows and non-windows systems. Please use the .zip file for Windows (it contains the ctypes.com framework), and use the .tar.gz file for non-Windows systems (it contains the complete cross-platform libffi sources). Binary windows installers, which contain compiled extension modules, are also available, be sure to download the correct one for the Python version you are using. Homepage <http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/> Enjoy, Thomas

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SC-Track Roundup 0.7.6 - an issue tracking system
by Richard Jones July 21, 2004

July 21, 2004

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Roundup is a simple-to-use and -install issue-tracking system with command-line, web and e-mail interfaces. It is based on the winning design from Ka-Ping Yee in the Software Carpentry "Track" design competition. Roundup now has a wiki which is accepting user contributions of example modifications, trackers, etc. at: http://www.mechanicalcat.net/tech/roundup/wiki/FrontPage 0.7.6 is a bug fix release, including: - - rdbms backend full text search failure after import (sf bug 980314) - - rdbms backends not filtering correctly on link=None - - fix anydbm journal import (sf bug 983166) - - handle postgresql bug in SQL generation (sf bug 984591) - - fix dates-from-Dates (sf bug 984604) - - fix messageid generated when msgid is None for send_message (sf bug 987933) - - make user permissions check more sane (fix search page for anonymous) - - fixed RDBMS filter() for no matches from full-text search (sf bug 990778) - - fixed DateHTMLProperty for invalid date entry (sf bug 986538) - - fixed external password source example (sf bug 986601) - - document the STATIC_FILES config var - - implement the HTTP HEAD command (sf bug 992544) - - fix journal export of files to remove content from CSV files - - API clarification. Previously, the anydbm/bsddb/metakit filter() methods had required exact matches to Multilink argument lists. The RDBMS backends treated Multilink matches like all other data types - matching any of the Multilink argument list is good enough. The latter behaviour is implemented across the board now. - - fix metakit handling of filter on Link==None If you're upgrading from an older version of Roundup you *must* follow the "Software Upgrade" guidelines given in the maintenance documentation. Roundup requires python 2.1.3 or later for correct operation. To give Roundup a try, just download (see below), unpack and run:: python demo.py Source and documentation is available at the website: http://roundup.sourceforge.net/ Release Info (via download page): http://sourceforge.net/projects/roundup Mailing lists - the place to ask questions: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=31577 About Roundup ============= Roundup manages a number of issues (with flexible properties such as "description", "priority", and so on) and provides the ability to: (a) submit new issues, (b) find and edit existing issues, and (c) discuss issues with other participants. The system will facilitate communication among the participants by managing discussions and notifying interested parties when issues are edited. One of the major design goals for Roundup that it be simple to get going. Roundup is therefore usable "out of the box" with any python 2.1+ installation. It doesn't even need to be "installed" to be operational, though a disutils-based install script is provided. It comes with two issue tracker templates (a classic bug/feature tracker and a minimal skeleton) and seven database back-ends (anydbm, bsddb, bsddb3, sqlite, metakit, mysql and postgresql). -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFA/clgrGisBEHG6TARArW+AJ9PZ/yo325TTtDrcgMfl2cTDI5nLgCfQCZr K+W/lxj3h/o9uW3G6TEso+I= =t5iA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Silva 1.0 final released
by Martijn Faassen July 20, 2004

July 20, 2004

Silva 1.0: The Structured Content Management System =================================================== July 20, 2004 - after two and a half years of development, the Silva team is happy to announce the release of Silva 1.0. Silva is an open source content management system with a focus on structured content and its reuse. It is based on the open source web application platform Zope, and the programming language Python. New in Silva 1.0 are: * Deeply integrated support for Kupu, the WYSIWYG through the web editor with support for both Mozilla and Internet Explorer. * Silva 1.0 ships with full documentation that is a Silva publication itself. When you install a new Silva root you get the option to install the documentation as well. * Other new features include image thumbnail support and image cropping support. "At ETH we operate a mass virtual hosting Silva instance hosting a few hundred sites," says Reinhard Hess, of the `central IT services`_ at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (`ETH Zurich`_). "In addition to that there are a number of sites being run by independent departemental IT units across the university." ETH Zurich has been deploying Silva since 2002 - and they are also developing on the platform. "Silva is well capable to compete successfully with other web CMS products in the enterprise range - either open source or closed source. Silva was a good choice for us. Silva gives us the best cost/performance ratio even in the long term and maximum operational flexibility." The `University of Luton`_ in the UK is going online with a new Silva-backed version of their site later this week. "Silva is a very flexible tool for generating and maintaining web content," says Steve Kendall, who is managing the project. "Previously all web content had to be looked after by a small team of central staff with specialised skills, but now we have the mechanisms in place to return full ownership of the content to the faculties and departments." .. _`ETH Zurich`: http://www.ethz.ch/ .. _`central IT services`: http://www.id.ethz.ch/ .. _`University of Luton`: http://www.luton.ac.uk/ Downloads --------- You can download Silva 1.0 final here: http://www.zope.org/Members/infrae/Silva The -all.tgz ships with everything needed, including Kupu. A list of changes can be found here: http://www.zope.org/Members/infrae/Silva/HISTORY.txt About Silva ----------- Features of Silva include: * Through-the-web user interface with easy access to all features, including access keys. * Extensive documentation aimed to authors and editors, as well as for site managers, designers and system administrators. * Through-the-web structured authoring of documents using a WYSIWIG editor (kupu) or a forms-based editor. Content can be published to the web and exported as XML. Content can be reused in multiple areas of a publication using ghost objects. * Workflow and versioning support allows an author to work on a new version of a document while another version is already published online. * Separation of responsibilities between author, editor, and chief editor roles. Optional full integration with very large user sources using LDAP. Extensive group management abilities (with or without LDAP). * Resizing support for images, and extensive support to position images in document text. Images and files can be imported singly or in bulk. * Flexible customizable presentation using Zope Page Templates. Different sub sites can have different publications and designs. Virtual hosting support for sub sites. Silva extensions include: * SilvaNews - create and manage news and agenda items in Silva. RSS syndication and aggregation support. * DocMa - external server which integrates seamlessly into Silva and allows Silva publications to be exported to MS Word documents, and MS Word documents to be imported into Silva. * SilvaExternalSources - include data from external sources into documents, including CSV files, results from relational database queries or any Python script. More information about Silva can also be found here: http://www.infrae.com/products/silva More information about Infrae, the company that created Silva: http://www.infrae.com Press Contacts -------------- Martijn Faassen, Infrae, faassen at infrae.com

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ANN: pytz-2004b World timezone library
by Stuart Bishop July 20, 2004

July 20, 2004

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I have made a new release of pytz using the new revision of the Olsen time zone database made yesterday. The major change for this release are the emergency Argentinean timezones currently in place. pytz - World Timezone Definitions for Python ============================================ Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ pytz brings the Olson tz database into Python. This library allows accurate and cross platform timezone calculations using Python 2.3 or higher. This implementation solves the issue of ambiguous times at the end of daylight savings, which you can read more about in the Python Library Reference (datetime.tzinfo). The only remaining inaccuracy is that datetime.strftime only reports the UTC offset to the nearest minute (This is probably a feature - you have to draw a line somewhere). 536 of the Olsen timezones are supported. The missing few are for Riyadh Solar Time in 1987, 1988 and 1989. As Saudi Arabia gave up trying to cope with their timezone definition, I see no reason to complicate my code further to cope with them. (I understand the intention was to set sunset to 0:00 local time, the start of the Islamic day. In the best case caused the DST offset to change daily and worst case caused the DST offset to change each instant depending on how you interpreted the ruling.) Note that if you perform date arithmetic on local times that cross DST boundaries, the results may be in an incorrect timezone (ie. subtract 1 minute from 2002-10-27 1:00 EST and you get 2002-10-27 0:59 EST instead of the correct 2002-10-27 1:59 EDT). This cannot be resolved without modifying the Python datetime implementation. However, these tzinfo classes provide a normalize() method which allows you to correct these values. Installation ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a standard Python distutils distribution. To install the package, run the following command as an administrative user:: python setup.py install Example & Usage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> from datetime import datetime, timedelta >>> from pytz import timezone >>> utc = timezone('UTC') >>> eastern = timezone('US/Eastern') >>> utc_dt = datetime(2002, 10, 27, 6, 0, 0, tzinfo=utc) >>> loc_dt = utc_dt.astimezone(eastern) >>> fmt = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z (%z)' >>> loc_dt.strftime(fmt) '2002-10-27 01:00:00 EST (-0500)' >>> (loc_dt - timedelta(minutes=10)).strftime(fmt) '2002-10-27 00:50:00 EST (-0500)' >>> eastern.normalize(loc_dt - timedelta(minutes=10)).strftime(fmt) '2002-10-27 01:50:00 EDT (-0400)' >>> (loc_dt + timedelta(minutes=10)).strftime(fmt) '2002-10-27 01:10:00 EST (-0500)' License ~~~~~~~ BSD style license. I'm happy to relicense this code if necessary for inclusion in other open source projects. Latest Versions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This package will be updated after releases of the Olsen timezone database. The latest version can be downloaded from sourceforge_. The code that is used to generate this distribution is available in the sourceforge_ project's CVS repository. .. _sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pytz/ Further Reading ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More info than you want to know about timezones:: http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm Contact ~~~~~~~ Stuart Bishop <stuart(a)stuartbishop.net> - -- Stuart Bishop <stuart(a)stuartbishop.net> http://www.stuartbishop.net/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (Darwin) iD8DBQFA/PB2AfqZj7rGN0oRAtzXAKCKLyKkoLjPt/ITGIFMefrIAAIbdQCfWQk/ DEPWhLICWH0hNwd9SqZUg0w= =U5U5 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Call for Grant Proposals
by "Martin v. Löwis" July 20, 2004

July 20, 2004

The Python Software Foundation is seeking grant proposals for projects related to the further development of Python, Python-related technology, and educational resources. The PSF plans to issue calls for proposals regularly. Proposals should be for specific projects with a clear objective, rather than support for ongoing activities. Proposals should be brief (a few pages of text), and they should explain: a. what the objective of the project is, b. what precisely the funds are needed for, c. a delivery plan, indicating what deliverables will be provided at what time, and d. a payment plan, indicating what payments should be made at what time. Awarded grants can range up to $40,000. Proposals for this call must be submitted before October 1, 2004. Projects will start on November 1, 2004, and must be completed by October 30, 2005. Proposals should be sent to psf-grants(a)python.org. Kind regards, Martin v. Löwis

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Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jul 19)
by Peter Otten July 19, 2004

July 19, 2004

QOTW: "So I better start practice my throwing, and Dan [Sugalski] better start practice his ducking. ;-)" -- Guido van Rossum using his time-machine for a preview on the Pie-thon at Oscon 2004. "Anytime you need to do something on corresponding items in two lists, you should think of zip(), as this binds the matching elements together." -- Marc Boeren Michele Simionato shows a concise way to implement a revolving counter. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=4edc17eb.0407180632.14385359%40post… In his answer to Chris Lyon, Daniel Dittmar posts a mini-tutorial on list comprehensions and iterators. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=cd0pse%24q2g%241%40news1.wdf.sap-ag… Mike C. Fletcher shares his experiences in building Python extensions with the free (of charge) Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit compiler. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=mailman.528.1090097933.5135.python-… http://members.rogers.com/mcfletch/programming/mstoolkit/ Python newbie Matt Feinstein misses fixed-size integers in the core. While answers point out that this will not be problem in practice, Dan Bishop has a pure-python implementation to ease the (phantom?) pain. http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ad052e5c.0407161348.42abb996%40posting… Jacek Generowicz explains Python's scoping rules, and yes, he has a not so hidden agenda. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=tyfwu15v85j.fsf%40pcepsft001.cern.ch David Pokorny wants to run a function a fixed number of bytecodes at a time. It turns out that a similar problem has already been discussed a year ago - with impressive code posted by Duncan Booth. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=40FA9D2A.3020905%40hotmail.com Python Windows guru Mark Hammond needs beta-testers with IIS and Apache experience for a new ISAPI module. http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=cdf3mb%2418b0%241%40arachne.labyrinth.… Heiko Wundram engages in a discussion about the algorithm used in his little Minesweeper program. http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=mailman.326.1089751896.5135.python-… What is Pie-thon? For an explanation see http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=122&thread=27898 ======================================================================== Everything Python-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in these pages: Python.org's Python Language Website is the traditional center of Pythonia http://www.python.org Notice especially the master FAQ http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html PythonWare complements the digest you're reading with the marvelous daily python url http://www.pythonware.com/daily Mygale is a news-gathering webcrawler that specializes in (new) World-Wide Web articles related to Python. http://www.awaretek.com/nowak/mygale.html While cosmetically similar, Mygale and the Daily Python-URL are utterly different in their technologies and generally in their results. comp.lang.python.announce announces new Python software. Be sure to scan this newsgroup weekly. http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python.announce Brett Cannon continues the marvelous tradition established by Andrew Kuchling and Michael Hudson of intelligently summarizing action on the python-dev mailing list once every other week. http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ The Python Package Index catalogues packages. http://www.python.org/pypi/ The somewhat older Vaults of Parnassus ambitiously collects references to all sorts of Python resources. http://www.vex.net/~x/parnassus/ Much of Python's real work takes place on Special-Interest Group mailing lists http://www.python.org/sigs/ The Python Business Forum "further[s] the interests of companies that base their business on ... Python." http://www.python-in-business.org The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has replaced the Python Consortium as an independent nexus of activity. It has official responsibility for Python's development and maintenance. http://www.python.org/psf/ Among the ways you can support PSF is with a donation. http://www.python.org/psf/donate.html Cetus collects Python hyperlinks. http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_python.html Python FAQTS http://python.faqts.com/ The Cookbook is a collaborative effort to capture useful and interesting recipes. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python Among several Python-oriented RSS/RDF feeds available are http://www.python.org/channews.rdf http://bootleg-rss.g-blog.net/pythonware_com_daily.pcgi http://python.de/backend.php For more, see http://www.syndic8.com/feedlist.php?ShowMatch=python&ShowStatus=all The old Python "To-Do List" now lives principally in a SourceForge reincarnation. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=355470&group_id=5470&func=browse http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0042.html The online Python Journal is posted at pythonjournal.cognizor.com. editor(a)pythonjournal.com and editor(a)pythonjournal.cognizor.com welcome submission of material that helps people's understanding of Python use, and offer Web presentation of your work. *Py: the Journal of the Python Language* http://www.pyzine.com Archive probing tricks of the trade: http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_ugroup=comp.lang.python&num=100 http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=site%3Dgroups%26group%3Dcomp.lang.pyth… Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here: http://www.ddj.com/topics/pythonurl/ http://purl.org/thecliff/python/url.html (dormant) or http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Python-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lan… Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome. E-mail to <Python-URL(a)phaseit.net> should get through. To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday morning (approximately), ask <claird(a)phaseit.net> to subscribe. Mention "Python-URL!". -- The Python-URL! Team-- Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and sponsor the "Python-URL!" project.

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ANN: PChess 0.9
by jolsen＠despammed.com July 18, 2004

July 18, 2004

Hi, I don't know if the world needs another chess program, but here is one :-) http://jesperolsen.net/PChess/index.html It is a C-extension for python, and includes a cgi based chess application: http://jesperolsen.net/PChess/cgiskak.py The chess engine itself, is one I wrote a long time ago, and now I have updated it (for ANSI C) and created a python wrapper for it. I am planning a few more releases - adding features to the python interface. I have previously written GUIs for it, but they don't seem to last very long before becomming obsolete. I'm not going to do another - in addition to the CGI game, but may try to interface it to an existing one. If you are aware of a good candidate - particularly if it has a python interface and is relatively platform independent, I am interested. Cheers Jesper

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utf8script 1.0 is released
by "Martin v. Löwis" July 18, 2004

July 18, 2004

The package utf8script provides an additional binary format for Linux: scripts which start with an UTF-8 signature (aka BOM), i.e. with the byte sequence \xef\xbb\xbf#!. This is particularly useful for scripting languages which recognize the BOM, e.g. Python. With Python 2.3 or newer, scripts with the UTF-8 BOM are considered UTF-8 enocded without the need for an addition encoding declaration. The package is available from http://www.dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/home/loewis/utf8script-1.0.tgz An x86 Debian package can be downloaded from http://www.dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/home/loewis/debian/binary/utf8script_1.0-… Martin v. Löwis martin(a)v.loewis.de

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Announcing PyGgy 0.3
by Tim Newsham July 16, 2004

July 16, 2004

Announcing: PyGgy v0.3 - http://www.lava.net/~newsham/pyggy/ Tim Newsham 2004 Jul 15 Public Domain ---[ Description PyGgy is a python package for generating parsers and lexers in python. The PyGgy distribution contains two tools: PyLly - (Pronounced "pile-ey") A lexer generator that generates DFA tables for lexing tokens. PyGgy - (Pronounced "piggy") A parser generator that generates SLR tables for a GLR parsing engine. The PyLly program is used to pregenerate tables for a finite state machine from a lexer specification. There is a lexer engine that uses the tables to tokenize an input stream. The PyGgy program is used to pregenerate parser tables from a parser specification. There is a GLR parsing engine that uses the tables to parse a stream of input tokens. Because GLR parsing is used, the parser can deal with arbitrary grammars, even if they are recursive or ambiguous. PyGgy is self hosting -- PyGgy parsers and PyLly lexers are used to process the specification files used by both PyGgy and PyLly. This is version 0.3 of PyGgy. It is the second public release. This is an alpha release; the public interfaces are subject to change, and there may be bugs in the code. This version of PyGgy is placed in the public domain. This means anyone can do anything with it with no restrictions whatsoever.

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