Mailman 3 December 2000 - Python-Dev

Re: [Python-Dev] Splitting up _cursesmodule
by Moshe Zadka 14 Dec '00

14 Dec '00

On Wed, 13 Dec 2000 07:41:54 -0800, Neil Schemenauer <nas(a)arctrix.com> wrote: > I don't think that is a very safe bet. Python 2.0 missed the > Debian Potato boat. By a long time -- potato was frozen for a few months when 2.0 came out. > I have no idea when Woody is expected to be > released but I expect it may take longer than that if history is > any indication. My bet is that woody starts freezing as soon as 2.4.0 is out. Note that once it starts freezing, 2.1 doesn't have a shot of getting in, regardless of how long it takes to freeze. OTOH, since in woody time there's a good chance for the "testing" distribution, a lot more people would be running something that *can* and *will* upgrade to 2.1 almost as soon as it is out. (For the record, most of the Debian users I know run woody on their server) -- Moshe Zadka <sig(a)zadka.site.co.il> This is a signature anti-virus. Please stop the spread of signature viruses!

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Online help PEP
by Paul Prescod 14 Dec '00

14 Dec '00

PEP: ??? Title: Python Online Help Version: $Revision: 1.0 $ Author: paul(a)prescod.net, paulp(a)activestate.com (Paul Prescod) Status: Draft Type: Standards Track Python-Version: 2.1 Status: Incomplete Abstract This PEP describes a command-line driven online help facility for Python. The facility should be able to build on existing documentation facilities such as the Python documentation and docstrings. It should also be extensible for new types and modules. Interactive use: Simply typing "help" describes the help function (through repr overloading). "help" can also be used as a function: The function takes the following forms of input: help( "string" ) -- built-in topic or global help( <ob> ) -- docstring from object or type help( "doc:filename" ) -- filename from Python documentation If you ask for a global, it can be a fully-qualfied name such as help("xml.dom"). You can also use the facility from a command-line python --help if In either situation, the output does paging similar to the "more" command. Implementation The help function is implemented in an onlinehelp module which is demand-loaded. There should be options for fetching help information from environments other than the command line through the onlinehelp module: onelinehelp.gethelp(object_or_string) -> string It should also be possible to override the help display function by assigning to onlinehelp.displayhelp(object_or_string). The module should be able to extract module information from either the HTML or LaTeX versions of the Python documentation. Links should be accommodated in a "lynx-like" manner. Over time, it should also be able to recognize when docstrings are in "special" syntaxes like structured text, HTML and LaTeX and decode them appropriately. A prototype implementation is available with the Python source distribution as nondist/sandbox/doctools/onlinehelp.py. Built-in Topics help( "intro" ) - What is Python? Read this first! help( "keywords" ) - What are the keywords? help( "syntax" ) - What is the overall syntax? help( "operators" ) - What operators are available? help( "builtins" ) - What functions, types, etc. are built-in? help( "modules" ) - What modules are in the standard library? help( "copyright" ) - Who owns Python? help( "moreinfo" ) - Where is there more information? help( "changes" ) - What changed in Python 2.0? help( "extensions" ) - What extensions are installed? help( "faq" ) - What questions are frequently asked? help( "ack" ) - Who has done work on Python lately? Security Issues This module will attempt to import modules with the same names as requested topics. Don't use the modules if you are not confident that everything in your pythonpath is from a trusted source. Local Variables: mode: indented-text indent-tabs-mode: nil End:

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Memory leaks in tupleobject.c
by Charles G Waldman 14 Dec '00

14 Dec '00

I've been running a set of memory-leak tests against the latest Python and have found that running "test_extcall" leaks memory. This gave me a strange sense of deja vu, having fixed this once before...

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Business related to the upcoming Python conference
by Eric S. Raymond 14 Dec '00

14 Dec '00

I'm sending this to python-dev because I believe most or all of the reviewers for my PC9 paper are on this list. Paul, would you please forward to any who were not? First, my humble apologies for not having got my PC9 reviews in on time. I diligently read my assigned papers early, but I couldn't do the reviews early because of technical problems with my Foretec account -- and then I couldn't do them late because the pre-deadline crunch happened while I was on a ten-day speaking and business trip in Japan and California, with mostly poor or nonexistent Internet access. Matters were not helped by a nasty four-month-old problem in my personal life coming to a head right in the middle of the trip. Nor by the fact that the trip included the VA Linux Systems annual stockholders' meeting and the toughest Board of Directors' meeting in my tenure. We had to hammer out a strategic theory of what to do now that the dot-com companies who used to be our best companies aren't getting funded any more. Unfortunately, it's at times like this that Board members earn their stock options. Management oversight. Fiduciary responsibility. Mumble... Second, the feedback I received on the paper was *excellent*, and I will be making many of the recommended changes. I've already extended the discussion of "Why Python?" including addressing the weaknesses of Scheme and Prolog for this application. I have said more about uses of CML2 beyond the Linux kernel. I am working on a discussion of the politics of CML2 option, but may save that for the stand-up talk rather than the written paper. I will try to trim the CML2 language reference for the final version. (The reviewer who complained about the lack of references on the SAT problem should be pleased to hear that URLs to relevant papers are in fact included in the masters. I hope they show in the final version as rendered for publication.) -- <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a> The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people. -- Justice William O. Douglas

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CVS: python/dist/src README,1.106,1.107
by Martin v. Loewis 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

> Another question remains regarding the docs though: why is it bad to > always compile main.c with a C++ compiler? For the whole thing to work, it may also be necessary to link the entire application with a C++ compiler; that in turn may bind to the C++ library. Linking with the system's C++ library means that the Python executable cannot be as easily exchanged between installations of the operating system - you'd also need to have the right version of the C++ library to run it. If the C++ library is static, that may also increase the size of the executable. I can't really point to a specific problem that would occur on a specific system I use if main() was compiled with a C++ compiler. However, on the systems I use (Windows, Solaris, Linux), you can build C++ extension modules even if Python was not compiled as a C++ application. On Solaris and Windows, you'd also have to chose the C++ compiler you want to use (MSVC++, SunPro CC, or g++); in turn, different C++ runtime systems would be linked into the application. Regards, Martin

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Announcing ZODB-Corba code release
by John D. Heintz 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

Here is the first release of code that exposes a ZODB database through CORBA (omniORB). The code is functioning, the docs are sparse, and it should work on your machines. ;-) I am only going to be in town for the next two days, then I will be unavailable until Jan 1. See http://www.zope.org/Members/jheintz/ZODB_CORBA_Connection to download the code. It's not perfect, but it works for me. Enjoy, John -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John D. Heintz | Senior Engineer 1016 La Posada Dr. | Suite 240 | Austin TX 78752 T 512.633.1198 | jheintz(a)isogen.com w w w . d a t a c h a n n e l . c o m

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Re: [Python-Dev] Splitting up _cursesmodule
by Moshe Zadka 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

On Tue, 12 Dec 2000 23:29:17 -0500, "Eric S. Raymond" <esr(a)thyrsus.com> wrote: > A.M. Kuchling <amk(a)mira.erols.com>: > > At 2502 lines, _cursesmodule.c is cumbersomely large. I've just > > received a patch from Thomas Gellekum that adds support for the panel > > library that will add another 500 lines. I'd like to split the C file > > into several subfiles (_curses_panel.c, _curses_window.c, etc.) that > > get #included from the master _cursesmodule.c file. > > > > Do the powers that be approve of this idea? > > I doubt I qualify as a power that be, but I'm certainly +1 on panel support. I'm +1 on panel support, but that seems the wrong solution. Why not have several C moudles (_curses_panel,...) and manage a more unified namespace with the Python wrapper modules? /curses/panel.py -- from _curses_panel import * etc. -- Moshe Zadka <sig(a)zadka.site.co.il> This is a signature anti-virus. Please stop the spread of signature viruses!

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Reference implementation for PEP 208 (coercion)
by Neil Schemenauer 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

Sourceforge unloads are not working. The lastest version of the patch for PEP 208 is here: http://arctrix.com/nas/python/coerce-6.0.diff Operations on instances now call __coerce__ if it exists. I think the patch is now complete. Converting other builtin types to "new style numbers" can be done with a separate patch. Neil

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Re: [Python-checkins] CVS: python/dist/src README,1.106,1.107
by Guido van Rossum 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

> + --with-cxx=<compiler>: Some C++ compilers require that main() is > + compiled with the C++ if there is any C++ code in the application. > + Specifically, g++ on a.out systems may require that to support > + construction of global objects. With this option, the main() function > + of Python will be compiled with <compiler>; use that only if you > + plan to use C++ extension modules, and if your compiler requires > + compilation of main() as a C++ program. Thanks for documenting this; see my continued reservation in the (reopened) bug report. Another question remains regarding the docs though: why is it bad to always compile main.c with a C++ compiler? --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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Splitting up _cursesmodule
by A.M. Kuchling 13 Dec '00

13 Dec '00

At 2502 lines, _cursesmodule.c is cumbersomely large. I've just received a patch from Thomas Gellekum that adds support for the panel library that will add another 500 lines. I'd like to split the C file into several subfiles (_curses_panel.c, _curses_window.c, etc.) that get #included from the master _cursesmodule.c file. Do the powers that be approve of this idea? --amk

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