
I remember earlier discussion on the Python 2.1 release schedule, and never managed to comment on those. I believe that Python contributors and maintainers did an enourmous job in releasing Python 2, which took quite some time from everybody's life. I think it is unrealistic to expect the same amount of commitment for the next release, especially if that release appears just a few months after the previous release (that is, one month from now). So I'd like to ask the release manager to take that into account. I'm not quite sure what kind of action I expect; possible alternatives are: - declare 2.1 a pure bug fix release only; with a minimal set of new features. In particular, don't push for completion of PEPs; everybody should then accept that most features that are currently discussed will appear in Python 2.2. - move the schedule for Python 2.1 back (or is it forward?) by, say, a few month. This will people give some time to do the things that did not get the right amount of attention during 2.0 release, and will still allow to work on new and interesting features. Just my 0.02EUR, Martin

You're right -- 2.0 (including 1.6) was a monumental effort, and I'm grateful to all who contributed. I don't expect that 2.1 will be anywhere near the same amount of work! Let's look at what's on the table. 0042 Small Feature Requests Hylton SD 205 pep-0205.txt Weak References Drake S 207 pep-0207.txt Rich Comparisons Lemburg, van Rossum S 208 pep-0208.txt Reworking the Coercion Model Schemenauer S 217 pep-0217.txt Display Hook for Interactive Use Zadka S 222 pep-0222.txt Web Library Enhancements Kuchling I 226 pep-0226.txt Python 2.1 Release Schedule Hylton S 227 pep-0227.txt Statically Nested Scopes Hylton S 230 pep-0230.txt Warning Framework van Rossum S 232 pep-0232.txt Function Attributes Warsaw S 233 pep-0233.txt Python Online Help Prescod

[Oops, I posted a partial edit of this message by mistake before.]
You're right -- 2.0 (including 1.6) was a monumental effort, and I'm grateful to all who contributed. I don't expect that 2.1 will be anywhere near the same amount of work! Let's look at what's on the table. These are listed as Active PEPs -- under serious consideration for Python 2.1:
0042 Small Feature Requests Hylton
We can do some of these or leave them.
0205 Weak References Drake
This one's open.
0207 Rich Comparisons Lemburg, van Rossum
This is really not that much work -- I would've done it already if I weren't distracted by the next one.
0208 Reworking the Coercion Model Schemenauer
Neil has most of this under control. I don't doubt for a second that it will be finished.
0217 Display Hook for Interactive Use Zadka
Probably a 20-line fix.
0222 Web Library Enhancements Kuchling
Up to Andrew. If he doesn't get to it, no big deal.
0226 Python 2.1 Release Schedule Hylton
I still think this is realistic -- a release before the conference seems doable!
0227 Statically Nested Scopes Hylton
This one's got a 50% chance at least. Jeremy seems motivated to do it.
0230 Warning Framework van Rossum
Done except for documentation.
0232 Function Attributes Warsaw
We need to discuss this more, but it's not much work to implement.
0233 Python Online Help Prescod
If Paul can control his urge to want to solve everything at once, I see no reason whi this one couldn't find its way into 2.1. Now, officially the PEP deadline is closed today: the schedule says "16-Dec-2000: 2.1 PEPs ready for review". That means that no new PEPs will be considered for inclusion in 2.1, and PEPs not in the active list won't be considered either. But the PEPs in the list above are all ready for review, even if we don't agree with all of them. I'm actually more worried about the ever-growing number of bug reports and submitted patches. But that's for another time. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

[Martin v. Loewis]
Just a stab in the dark, but is one of your real concerns the spotty state of Unicode support in the std libraries? If so, nobody working on the PEPs Guido identified would be likely to work on improving Unicode support even if the PEPs vanished. I don't know how Unicode support is going to improve, but in the absence of visible work in that direction-- or even A Plan to get some --I doubt we're going to hold up 2.1 waiting for magic. no-feature-is-ever-done-ly y'rs - tim

Just a stab in the dark, but is one of your real concerns the spotty state of Unicode support in the std libraries?
Not at all. I really responded to amk's message # All the PEPs for 2.1 are supposed to be complete for Dec. 16, and # some of those PEPs are pretty complicated. I'm a bit worried that # it's been so quiet on python-dev lately, especially after the # previous two weeks of lively discussion. I just thought that something was wrong here - contributing to a free software project ought to be fun for contributors, not a cause for worries. There-are-other-things-but-i18n-although-they-are-not-that-interesting y'rs, Martin

You're right -- 2.0 (including 1.6) was a monumental effort, and I'm grateful to all who contributed. I don't expect that 2.1 will be anywhere near the same amount of work! Let's look at what's on the table. 0042 Small Feature Requests Hylton SD 205 pep-0205.txt Weak References Drake S 207 pep-0207.txt Rich Comparisons Lemburg, van Rossum S 208 pep-0208.txt Reworking the Coercion Model Schemenauer S 217 pep-0217.txt Display Hook for Interactive Use Zadka S 222 pep-0222.txt Web Library Enhancements Kuchling I 226 pep-0226.txt Python 2.1 Release Schedule Hylton S 227 pep-0227.txt Statically Nested Scopes Hylton S 230 pep-0230.txt Warning Framework van Rossum S 232 pep-0232.txt Function Attributes Warsaw S 233 pep-0233.txt Python Online Help Prescod

[Oops, I posted a partial edit of this message by mistake before.]
You're right -- 2.0 (including 1.6) was a monumental effort, and I'm grateful to all who contributed. I don't expect that 2.1 will be anywhere near the same amount of work! Let's look at what's on the table. These are listed as Active PEPs -- under serious consideration for Python 2.1:
0042 Small Feature Requests Hylton
We can do some of these or leave them.
0205 Weak References Drake
This one's open.
0207 Rich Comparisons Lemburg, van Rossum
This is really not that much work -- I would've done it already if I weren't distracted by the next one.
0208 Reworking the Coercion Model Schemenauer
Neil has most of this under control. I don't doubt for a second that it will be finished.
0217 Display Hook for Interactive Use Zadka
Probably a 20-line fix.
0222 Web Library Enhancements Kuchling
Up to Andrew. If he doesn't get to it, no big deal.
0226 Python 2.1 Release Schedule Hylton
I still think this is realistic -- a release before the conference seems doable!
0227 Statically Nested Scopes Hylton
This one's got a 50% chance at least. Jeremy seems motivated to do it.
0230 Warning Framework van Rossum
Done except for documentation.
0232 Function Attributes Warsaw
We need to discuss this more, but it's not much work to implement.
0233 Python Online Help Prescod
If Paul can control his urge to want to solve everything at once, I see no reason whi this one couldn't find its way into 2.1. Now, officially the PEP deadline is closed today: the schedule says "16-Dec-2000: 2.1 PEPs ready for review". That means that no new PEPs will be considered for inclusion in 2.1, and PEPs not in the active list won't be considered either. But the PEPs in the list above are all ready for review, even if we don't agree with all of them. I'm actually more worried about the ever-growing number of bug reports and submitted patches. But that's for another time. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

[Martin v. Loewis]
Just a stab in the dark, but is one of your real concerns the spotty state of Unicode support in the std libraries? If so, nobody working on the PEPs Guido identified would be likely to work on improving Unicode support even if the PEPs vanished. I don't know how Unicode support is going to improve, but in the absence of visible work in that direction-- or even A Plan to get some --I doubt we're going to hold up 2.1 waiting for magic. no-feature-is-ever-done-ly y'rs - tim

Just a stab in the dark, but is one of your real concerns the spotty state of Unicode support in the std libraries?
Not at all. I really responded to amk's message # All the PEPs for 2.1 are supposed to be complete for Dec. 16, and # some of those PEPs are pretty complicated. I'm a bit worried that # it's been so quiet on python-dev lately, especially after the # previous two weeks of lively discussion. I just thought that something was wrong here - contributing to a free software project ought to be fun for contributors, not a cause for worries. There-are-other-things-but-i18n-although-they-are-not-that-interesting y'rs, Martin
participants (3)
-
Guido van Rossum
-
Martin v. Loewis
-
Tim Peters