Mailman 3 December 2002 - Python-Dev

sstruct
by Lalo Martins 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

While idly browsing around, I came across Just's module sstruct. Any good reason this is not in the library? It is a kind of cross between struct and ctypes, only a few years more mature. With new-style classes it could probably gain some nifty features. http://starship.python.net/~just/code/sstruct.py []s, |alo +---- -- Those who trade freedom for security lose both and deserve neither. -- http://www.laranja.org/ mailto:lalo@laranja.org pgp key: http://www.laranja.org/pessoal/pgp Eu jogo RPG! (I play RPG) http://www.eujogorpg.com.br/ GNU: never give up freedom http://www.gnu.org/

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Python 2.3a1 release -- Dec 31
by Guido van Rossum 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I expect that I'll have more time for the Python 2.3 release the rest of this year, so I will do my darndest to do an alpha release before the year is over. I've partially updated PEP 283 (the release schedule), though there are still a lot of things to be done that aren't there. I'll get to these on Thursday. I've read PEP 302, and while there are some things left to discuss, I would really like to see Just's code checked in for the alpha release, so that it gets widespread testing. Just, are you up for that? Happy holidays everybody! --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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New leak
by Tim Peters 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

"A leak" in the datetime test turned out to be in the scaffolding that prints the current refcount. Here's a whittled test: import sys lastrc = 0 while True: thisrc = sys.gettotalrefcount() if 1: # change 1 to 0 and there's no leak x = '*' * 10 # This leaks; ditto tuple times int, or list times int print >> sys.stderr, 'total refs:', thisrc, 'delta:', thisrc - lastrc lastrc = thisrc Run that in a debug build, and it leaks one reference per loop trip.

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Patch 640843 - split OPT into two parts
by Skip Montanaro 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I took a break from my fiddling with the OPT make/configure variable when I discovered the problems with out-of-tree builds. Andrew got that fixed a couple days ago, so I revisited my changes. I'd like to check them in, but should probably wait until Guido bundles 2.3a1. Changes are to these files: configure.in (and configure, of course) setup.py Makefile.pre.in Misc/NEWS There are some structural changes in configure.in that make it worth a careful look-see. In particular, I hope I haven't bolluxed up Martin's SCO changes from September (I can't test on that platform). Here's the new text from Misc/NEWS: - On systems which build using the configure script, compiler flags which used to be lumped together using the OPT flag have been split into two groups, OPT and BASECFLAGS. OPT is meant to carry just optimization- and debug-related flags like "-g" and "-O3". BASECFLAGS is meant to carry compiler flags that are required to get a clean compile. On some platforms (many Linux flavors in particular) BASECFLAGS will be empty by default. On others, such as MacOSX and SCO, it will contain required flags. This change allows people building Python to override OPT without fear of clobbering compiler flags which are required to get a clean build. Everything passes on both MacOSX and Mandrake 8.1 from CVS as of a few minutes ago. I uploaded a new context diff to SF so people can eyeball it, though I'll wait for Guido to say "check it in". There's one itty-bitty change to setup.py that's unrelated. It adds the fink directories /sw/lib and /sw/include to the relevant search lists when building on Darwin. Skip

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test_coercion
by Raymond Hettinger 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

Can anyone reproduce this test failure: C:\py23\Lib\test>python_d regrtest.py test_coercion test_coercion test test_coercion produced unexpected output: ********************************************************************** *** mismatch between line 523 of expected output and line 523 of actual output: - [1] *= <MethodNumber 1> => [1] + [1] *= <MethodNumber 1> ... exceptions.TypeError *** mismatch between line 535 of expected output and line 535 of actual output: - [1] *= <CoerceNumber 2> => [1, 1] + [1] *= <CoerceNumber 2> ... exceptions.TypeError *********************************************************************** 1 test failed: test_coercion [12762 refs]

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Creating 2.3a1 branch
by Guido van Rossum 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I'm creating the 2.3a1 release branch. Checkins from now on won't make it into 2.3a1 unless you mail me ASAP for special dispensation. (Tim is tracking down a leak that may get this.) The branch point is tagged with r23a1-fork; the branch itself will be called r23a1-branch. Thanks everybody! Release later this afternoon. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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Python 2.3a1 release status
by Guido van Rossum 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I'm planning for a release by 6pm EST today. I'm happy with the changes that've been checked in overnight and the quality control checks that have been made. I'm waiting for one more big change to land: an important API change to datetime.c that was already implemented in the .py version in the sandbox. I expect this around lunchtime (EST) today. Once that change is committed, I'll create a release branch, declare a checkin moratorium for people outside PythonLabs, and start working on the final stretch of the release process (see PEP 101 if you want to know how much work that is). If you know of other pending changes that haven't been committed, either check them in (only if they're stable, tested and documented, of course!) or let me know ASAP. Jack Jansen: I don't expect that you're quite ready with the Mac tree. Or are you? Let me know what you want me to say about the Mac in the announcement and on the web. The draft text for the website is already visible at http://www.python.org/2.3/. If you think you can use this to get some short-term gain on the stock market, please share. :-) --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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ConfigParser changes
by Eric S. Raymond 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I merged in my changes and regression-tested everything. Looks like we're OK, all tests passed including my new ones. I also checked in a remnant doc change for some nntplib enhancements I did a month or so ago. This flushes my patch queue. -- <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a> "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." -- George Washington, in a speech of January 7, 1790

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Mesenne Twister copyright notice
by python＠rcn.com 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

During his review of the Mersenne Twister code (in python/nondist/sandbox/twister), Martin raised a question for python-dev about the best way to handle the copyright notice in the original code at http://www.math.keio.ac.jp/~matumoto/MT2002/emt19937ar.html . I incorporated the copyright notice into the head of _random.c, but the notice seems to indicate that it should also be in the documentation (either in librandom.tex or random.py). I don't think having multiple copies of the copyright notice or having clutter in the LaTeX docs is desirable. Inclusion by reference or footnote may be sufficient. Do you guys have any thoughts on the best way to resolve this one? It is my only unanswered review comment for the module before loading it for the alpha release. Raymond Hettinger

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Don't touch whatsnew23.tex
by A.M. Kuchling 31 Dec '02

31 Dec '02

I'm in the middle of updating the "What's New" document for 2.3a1. Please don't make any checkins to it; if you want to make a change, please e-mail me a patch instead. (Should be finished later this evening, unless someone adds more features first...) --amk (www.amk.ca) Thank you for letting me borrow your objects. -- Ute Lemper in concert, March 13, 1997

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