[bcc to stdlib-sig] After two false starts over the YEARS of trying to cleanup and reorganize the stdlib, creating a SIG to get this going, having Guido give the PEP the once-over over the past several days, and creating two new bugs reports (issues 2715 and 2716), PEP 3108 is finally ready for public vetting! While reading this PEP, do remember this is only about either removing modules, renaming them, or moving them into a package. Additions are not covered by this PEP! Also realize all of the right people have been consulted on this stuff (e.g., the web SIG about the urllib package). So please do not think that something that seems drastic (e.g., the removal of all Mac-specific modules) was taken lightly when in fact the proper people were asked and they were okay with what is going on. Lastly, I do not want this to turn into a drawn-out thread about how people think some module should stay because they happen to use it or suggest some other module to remove. Please think before you propose a change. I have been through this proposal process for this reorg before and every time it has gotten way out of control. I do not want it happen this time. OK, with all of that out of the way, here is the PEP: ----------------------------------------------- PEP: 3108 Title: Standard Library Reorganization Version: $Revision: 62573 $ Last-Modified: $Date: 2008-04-28 17:56:36 -0700 (Mon, 28 Apr 2008) $ Author: Brett Cannon <brett@python.org> Status: Draft Type: Standards Track Content-Type: text/x-rst Created: 01-Jan-2007 Python-Version: 3.0 Post-History: Abstract ======== Just like the language itself, Python's standard library (stdlib) has grown over the years to be very rich. But over time some modules have lost their need to be included with Python. There has also been an introduction of a naming convention for modules since Python's inception that not all modules follow. Python 3.0 has presented a chance to remove modules that do not have long term usefulness. This chance also allows for the renaming of modules so that they follow the Python style guide [#pep-0008]_. This PEP lists modules that should not be included in Python 3.0 and what modules need to be renamed. Modules to Remove ================= Guido pronounced that "silly old stuff" is to be deleted from the stdlib for Py3K [#silly-old-stuff]_. This is open-ended on purpose. Each module to be removed needs to have a justification as to why it should no longer be distributed with Python. This can range from the module being deprecated in Python 2.x to being for a platform that is no longer widely used. This section of the PEP lists the various modules to be removed. Each subsection represents a different reason for modules to be removed. Each module must have a specific justification on top of being listed in a specific subsection so as to make sure only modules that truly deserve to be removed are in fact removed. When a reason mentions how long it has been since a module has been "uniquely edited", it is in reference to how long it has been since a checkin was done specifically for the module and not for a change that applied universally across the entire stdlib. If an edit time is not denoted as "unique" then it is the last time the file was edited, period. The procedure to thoroughly remove a module is: #. Remove the module. #. Remove the tests. #. Edit ``Modules/Setup.dist`` and ``setup.py`` if needed. #. Remove the docs (if applicable). #. Run the regression test suite (using ``-uall``); watch out for tests that are skipped because an import failed for the removed module. If a deprecation warning is added to 2.6, it would be better to make all the changes to 2.6, merge the changes into the 3k branch, then perform the procedure above. This will avoid some merge conflicts. Previously deprecated --------------------- PEP 4 lists all modules that have been deprecated in the stdlib [#pep-0004]_. The specified motivations mirror those listed in PEP 4. All modules listed in the PEP at the time of the first alpha release of Python 3.0 will be removed. The entire contents of lib-old will also be removed. These modules have already been removed from being imported but are kept in the distribution for Python for users that rely upon the code. * buildtools + Documented as deprecated since Python 2.3 without an explicit reason. * cfmfile + Documented as deprecated since Python 2.4 without an explicit reason. * cl + Documented as obsolete since Python 2.0 or earlier. + Interface to SGI hardware. * md5 + Supplanted by the ``hashlib`` module. * mimetools + Documented as obsolete without an explicit reason. * MimeWriter + Supplaned by the ``email`` package. * mimify + Supplanted by the ``email`` package. * multifile + Supplanted by the ``email`` package. * posixfile + Locking is better done by ``fcntl.lockf()``. * rfc822 + Supplanted by the ``email`` package. * sha + Supplanted by the ``hashlib`` package. * sv + Documented as obsolete since Python 2.0 or earlier. + Interface to obsolete SGI Indigo hardware. * timing + Documented as obsolete since Python 2.0 or earlier. + ``time.clock()`` gives better time resolution. Platform-specific with minimal use ---------------------------------- Python supports many platforms, some of which are not widely held. And on some of these platforms there are modules that have limited use to people on those platforms. Because of their limited usefulness it would be better to no longer burden the Python development team with their maintenance. The module mentioned below are documented. All undocumented modules for the specified platforms will also be removed. IRIX ///// The IRIX operating system is no longer produced [#irix-retirement]_. Removing all modules from the plat-irix[56] directory has been deemed reasonable because of this fact. + AL/al [done: 3.0] - Provides sound support on Indy and Indigo workstations. - Both workstations are no longer available. - Code has not been uniquely edited in three years. + cd [done: 3.0] - CD drive control for SGI systems. - SGI no longer sells machines with IRIX on them. - Code has not been uniquely edited in 14 years. + cddb [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + cdplayer [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + cl/CL/CL_old [done: 3.0] - Compression library for SGI systems. - SGI no longer sells machines with IRIX on them. - Code has not been uniquely edited in 14 years. + DEVICE/GL/gl/cgen/cgensuport [done: 3.0] - GL access, which is the predecessor to OpenGL. - Has not been edited in at least eight years. - Third-party libraries provide better support (PyOpenGL [#pyopengl]_). + ERRNO [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + FILE [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + FL/fl/flp [done: 3.0] - Wrapper for the FORMS library [#irix-forms]_ - FORMS has not been edited in 12 years. - Library is not widely used. - First eight hits on Google are for Python docs for fl. + fm [done: 3.0] - Wrapper to the IRIS Font Manager library. - Only available on SGI machines which no longer come with IRIX. + GET [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + GLWS [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + imgfile [done: 3.0] - Wrapper for SGI libimage library for imglib image files (``.rgb`` files). - Python Imaging Library provdes read-only support [#pil]_. - Not uniquely edited in 13 years. + IN [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + IOCTL [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + jpeg [done: 3.0] - Wrapper for JPEG (de)compressor. - Code not uniquely edited in nine years. - Third-party libraries provide better support (Python Imaging Library [#pil]_). + panel [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + panelparser [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + readcd [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + SV [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + torgb [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. + WAIT [done: 3.0] - Undocumented. Mac-specific modules //////////////////// The Mac-specific modules are mostly unmaintained (e.g., the bgen tool used to auto-generate many of the modules has never been updated to support UCS-4). It is also not Python's place to maintain such a large amount of OS-specific modules. Thus all modules under plat-mac are to be removed. A stub module for proxy access will be provided for use by urllib. * _builtinSuites - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * Audio_mac - Undocumented. * aepack - OSA support is better through third-party modules. * Appscript [#appscript]_. - Hard-coded endianness which breaks on Intel Macs. - Might need to rename if Carbon package dependent. * aetools - See aepack. * aetypes - See aepack. * applesingle - Undocumented. - AppleSingle is a binary file format for A/UX. - A/UX no longer distributed. * appletrawmain - Undocumented. * appletrunner - Undocumented. * argvemulator - Undocumented. * autoGIL - Very bad model for using Python with the CFRunLoop. * bgenlocations - Undocumented. * bundlebuilder - Undocumented. * Carbon - Carbon development has stopped. - Does not support 64-bit systems completely. - Dependent on bgen which has never been updated to support UCS-4 Unicode builds of Python. * CodeWarrior - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * ColorPicker - Better to use Cocoa for GUIs. * EasyDialogs - Better to use Cocoa for GUIs. * Explorer - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * Finder - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * findertools - No longer useful. * FrameWork - Poorly documented. - Not updated to support Carbon Events. * gensuitemodule - See aepack. * ic * icopen - Not needed on OS X. - Meant to replace 'open' which is usually a bad thing to do. * macerrors - Undocumented. * MacOS - Would also mean the removal of binhex. * macostools * macresource - Undocumented. * MiniAEFrame - See aepack. * Nav - Undocumented. * Netscape - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * pimp - Undocumented. * PixMapWrapper - Undocumented. * StdSuites - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * SystemEvents - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * Terminal - Undocumented. - Package under lib-scriptpackages. * terminalcommand - Undocumented. * videoreader - No longer used. * W - No longer distributed with Python. .. _PyObjC: http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net/ Solaris /////// + SUNAUDIODEV/sunaudiodev [done: 3.0] - Access to the sound card on Sun machines. - Code not uniquely edited in over eight years. Hardly used ------------ Some modules that are platform-independent are hardly used. This can be from how easy it is to implement the functionality from scratch or because the audience for the code is very small. * audiodev [done: 3.0] + Undocumented. + Not edited in five years. + If removed sunaudio should go as well (also undocumented; not edited in over seven years). * imputil + Undocumented. + Never updated to support absolute imports. * mutex + Easy to implement using a semaphore and a queue. + Cannot block on a lock attempt. + Not uniquely edited since its addition 15 years ago. + Only useful with the 'sched' module. + Not thread-safe. * stringold [done: 3.0] + Function versions of the methods on string objects. + Obsolete since Python 1.6. + Any functionality not in the string object or module will be moved to the string module (mostly constants). * symtable/_symtable + Undocumented. * toaiff [done: 3.0, moved to Demo] + Undocumented. + Requires ``sox`` library to be installed on the system. * user + Easily handled by allowing the application specify its own module name, check for existence, and import if found. * new [done: 3.0] + Just a rebinding of names from the 'types' module. + Can also call ``type`` built-in to get most types easily. + Docstring states the module is no longer useful as of revision 27241 (2002-06-15). * pure [done: 3.0] + Written before Pure Atria was bought by Rational which was then bought by IBM (in other words, very old). * test.testall [done: 3.0] + From the days before regrtest. Obsolete -------- Becoming obsolete signifies that either another module in the stdlib or a widely distributed third-party library provides a better solution for what the module is meant for. * Bastion/rexec [done: 3.0] + Restricted execution / security. + Turned off in Python 2.3. + Modules deemed unsafe. * bsddb185 [done: 3.0] + Superceded by bsddb3 + Not built by default. + Documentation specifies that the "module should never be used directly in new code". * commands + subprocess module replaces it [#pep-0324]_. + Remove getstatus(), move rest to subprocess. * compiler (need to add AST -> bytecode mechanism) [done: 3.0] + Having to maintain both the built-in compiler and the stdlib package is redundant [#ast-removal]_. + The AST created by the compiler is available [#ast]_. + Mechanism to compile from an AST needs to be added. * dircache + Negligible use. + Easily replicated. * dl [done: 3.0] + ctypes provides better support for same functionality. * fpformat + All functionality is supported by string interpolation. * htmllib + Superceded by HTMLParser. * ihooks + Undocumented. + For use with rexec which has been turned off since Python 2.3. * imageop [done: 3.0] + Better support by third-party libraries (Python Imaging Library [#pil]_). + Unit tests relied on rgbimg and imgfile. - rgbimg was removed in Python 2.6. - imgfile slated for removal in this PEP. [done: 3.0] * linuxaudiodev [done: 3.0] + Replaced by ossaudiodev. * mhlib + Obsolete mailbox format. * popen2 [done: 3.0] + subprocess module replaces them [#pep-0324]_. * sched + Replaced by threading.Timer. * sgmllib + Does not fully parse SGML. + In the stdlib for support to htmllib which is slated for removal. * stat + ``os.stat`` now returns a tuple with attributes. + Functions in the module should be made into methods for the object returned by os.stat. * statvfs + ``os.statvfs`` now returns a tuple with attributes. * thread + People should use 'threading' instead. - Rename 'thread' to _thread. - Deprecate dummy_thread and rename _dummy_thread. - Move thread.get_ident over to threading. + Guido has previously supported the deprecation [#thread-deprecation]_. * urllib + Superceded by urllib2. + Functionality unique to urllib will be kept in the `urllib package`_. * UserDict [done: 3.0] + Not as useful since types can be a superclass. + Useful bits moved to the 'collections' module. * UserList/UserString [done: 3.0] + Not useful since types can be a superclass. Modules to Rename ================= Along with the stdlib gaining some modules that are no longer relevant, there is also the issue of naming. Many modules existed in the stdlib before PEP 8 came into existence [#pep-0008]_. This has led to some naming inconsistencies and namespace bloat that should be addressed. PEP 8 violations ---------------- PEP 8 specifies that modules "should have short, all-lowercase names" where "underscores can be used ... if it improves readability" [#pep-0008]_. The use of underscores is discouraged in package names. The following modules violate PEP 8 and are not somehow being renamed by being moved to a package. ================== ================================================== Current Name Replacement Name ================== ================================================== _winreg winreg (rename also because module has a public interface and thus should not have a leading underscore) ConfigParser configparser copy_reg copyreg PixMapWrapper pixmapwrapper Queue queue SocketServer socketserver ================== ================================================== Merging C and Python implementations of the same interface ---------------------------------------------------------- Several interfaces have both a Python and C implementation. While it is great to have a C implementation for speed with a Python implementation as fallback, there is no need to expose the two implementations independently in the stdlib. For Python 3.0 all interfaces with two implementations will be merged into a single public interface. The C module is to be given a leading underscore to delineate the fact that it is not the reference implementation (the Python implementation is). This means that any semantic difference between the C and Python versions must be dealt with before Python 3.0 or else the C implementation will be removed until it can be fixed. One interface that is not listed below is xml.etree.ElementTree. This is an externally maintained module and thus is not under the direct control of the Python development team for renaming. See `Open Issues`_ for a discussion on this. * pickle/cPickle + Rename cPickle to _pickle. + Semantic completeness of C implementation *not* verified. * profile/cProfile + Rename cProfile to _profile. + Semantic completeness of C implementation *not* verified. * StringIO/cStringIO [done: 3.0] + Add the class to the 'io' module. No public, documented interface ------------------------------- There are several modules in the stdlib that have no defined public interface. These modules exist as support code for other modules that are exposed. Because they are not meant to be used directly they should be renamed to reflect this fact. ============ =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ============ =============================== markupbase _markupbase [done: 3.0] dummy_thread _dummy_thread [#]_ ============ =============================== .. [#] Assumes ``thread`` is renamed to ``_thread``. Poorly chosen names ------------------- A few modules have names that were poorly chosen in hindsight. They should be renamed so as to prevent their bad name from perpetuating beyond the 2.x series. ================= =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================= =============================== repr reprlib test.test_support test.support ================= =============================== Grouping of modules ------------------- As the stdlib has grown, several areas within it have expanded to include multiple modules (e.g., dbm support). Thus some new packages make sense where the renaming makes a module's name easier to work with. dbm package /////////// ================= =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================= =============================== anydbm dbm.tools [1]_ dbhash dbm.bsd dbm dbm.ndbm dumbdm dbm.dumb gdbm dbm.gnu whichdb dbm.tools [1]_ ================= =============================== .. [1] ``dbm.tools`` can combine ``anybdbm`` and ``whichdb`` since the public API for both modules has no name conflict and the two modules have closely related usage. html package //////////// ================== =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================== =============================== HTMLParser html.parser htmlentitydefs html.entities ================== =============================== http package //////////// ================= =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================= =============================== httplib http.client BaseHTTPServer http.server [2]_ CGIHTTPServer http.server [2]_ SimpleHTTPServer http.server [2]_ Cookie http.cookies cookielib http.cookiejar ================= =============================== .. [2] The ``http.server`` module can combine the specified modules safely as they have no naming conflicts. tkinter package /////////////// ================== =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================== =============================== Canvas tkinter.canvas Dialog tkinter.dialog FileDialog tkinter.filedialog [4]_ FixTk tkinter._fix ScrolledText tkinter.scrolledtext SimpleDialog tkinter.simpledialog [5]_ Tix tkinter.tix Tkconstants tkinter.constants Tkdnd tkinter.dnd Tkinter tkinter.__init__ tkColorChooser tkinter.colorchooser tkCommonDialog tkinter.commondialog tkFileDialog tkinter.filedialog [4]_ tkFont tkinter.font tkMessageBox tkinter.messagebox tkSimpleDialog tkinter.simpledialog [5]_ turtle tkinter.turtle ================== =============================== .. [4] ``tkinter.filedialog`` can safely combine ``FileDialog`` and ``tkFileDialog`` as there are no naming conflicts. .. [5] ``tkinter.simpledialog`` can safely combine ``SimpleDialog`` and ``tkSimpleDialog`` have no naming conflicts. urllib package ////////////// Originally this new package was to be named ``url``, but because of the common use of the name as a variable, it has been deemed better to keep the name ``urllib`` and instead shift existing modules around into a new package. ================== =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================== =============================== urllib2 urllib.request urlparse urllib.parse urllib urllib.parse, urllib.request [6]_ ================== =============================== .. [6] The quoting-related functions from ``urllib`` will be added to ``urllib.parse``. ``urllib.URLOpener`` and ``urllib.FancyUrlOpener`` will be added to ``urllib.request`` as long as the documentation for both modules is updated. xmlrpc package ////////////// ================== =============================== Current Name Replacement Name ================== =============================== xmlrpclib xmlrpc.client SimpleXMLRPCServer xmlrpc.server [3]_ CGIXMLRPCServer xmlrpc.server [3]_ ================== =============================== .. [3] The modules being combined into ``xmlrpc.server`` have no naming conflicts and thus can safely be merged. Transition Plan =============== For modules to be removed ------------------------- For the removal of modules that are continuing to exist in the Python 2.x series (i.e., not deprecated explicitly in the 2.x series), ``warnings.warn3k()`` will be used to issue a DeprecationWarning. Renaming of modules ------------------- For modules that are renamed, stub modules will be created with the original names and be kept in a directory within the stdlib (e.g. like how lib-old was once used). The need to keep the stub modules within a directory is to prevent naming conflicts with case-insensitive filesystems in those cases where nothing but the case of the module is changing. These stub modules will import the module code based on the new naming. The same type of warning being raised by modules being removed will be raised in the stub modules. Support in the 2to3 refactoring tool for renames will also be used [#2to3]_. Import statements will be rewritten so that only the import statement and none of the rest of the code needs to be touched. This will be accomplished by using the ``as`` keyword in import statements to bind in the module namespace to the old name while importing based on the new name. Open Issues =========== Renaming of modules maintained outside of the stdlib ---------------------------------------------------- xml.etree.ElementTree not only does not meet PEP 8 naming standards but it also has an exposed C implementation [#pep-0008]_. It is an externally maintained package, though [#pep-0360]_. A request will be made for the maintainer to change the name so that it matches PEP 8 and hides the C implementation. Rejected Ideas ============== Modules that were originally suggested for removal -------------------------------------------------- * asynchat/asyncore + Josiah Carlson has said he will maintain the modules. * audioop/sunau/aifc + Audio modules where the formats are still used. * base64/quopri/uu + All still widely used. + 'codecs' module does not provide as nice of an API for basic usage. * fileinput + Useful when having to work with stdin. * linecache + Used internally in several places. * nis + Testimonials from people that new installations of NIS are still occurring * getopt + Simpler than optparse. * repr + Useful as a basis for overriding. + Used internally. * telnetlib + Really handy for quick-and-dirty remote access. + Some hardware supports using telnet for configuration and querying. * Tkinter + Would prevent IDLE from existing. + No GUI toolkit would be available out of the box. Introducing a new top-level package ----------------------------------- It has been suggested that the entire stdlib be placed within its own package. This PEP will not address this issue as it has its own design issues (naming, does it deserve special consideration in import semantics, etc.). Everything within this PEP can easily be handled if a new top-level package is introduced. Introducing new packages to contain theme-related modules --------------------------------------------------------- During the writing of this PEP it was noticed that certain themes appeared in the stdlib. In the past people have suggested introducing new packages to help collect modules that share a similar theme (e.g., audio). An Open Issue was created to suggest some new packages to introduce. In the end, though, not enough support could be pulled together to warrant moving forward with the idea. Instead name simplification has been chosen as the guiding force for PEPs to create. References ========== .. [#pep-0004] PEP 4: Deprecation of Standard Modules (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0004/) .. [#pep-0008] PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/) .. [#pep-0324] PEP 324: subprocess -- New process module (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0324/) .. [#pep-0360] PEP 360: Externally Maintained Packages (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0360/) .. [#module-index] Python Documentation: Global Module Index (http://docs.python.org/modindex.html) .. [#timing-module] Python Library Reference: Obsolete (http://docs.python.org/lib/obsolete-modules.html) .. [#silly-old-stuff] Python-Dev email: "Py3k release schedule worries" (http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2006-December/005130.html) .. [#thread-deprecation] Python-Dev email: Autoloading? (http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2005-October/057244.html) .. [#py-dev-summary-2004-11-01] Python-Dev Summary: 2004-11-01 (http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2004-11-01_2004-11-15/#id10) .. [#2to3] 2to3 refactoring tool (http://svn.python.org/view/sandbox/trunk/2to3/) .. [#pyopengl] PyOpenGL (http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/) .. [#pil] Python Imaging Library (PIL) (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/) .. [#twisted] Twisted (http://twistedmatrix.com/trac/) .. [#irix-retirement] SGI Press Release: End of General Availability for MIPS IRIX Products -- December 2006 (http://www.sgi.com/support/mips_irix.html) .. [#irix-forms] FORMS Library by Mark Overmars (ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/SGI/FORMS) .. [#sun-au] Wikipedia: Au file format (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au_file_format) .. [#appscript] appscript (http://appscript.sourceforge.net/) .. [#ast] _ast module (http://docs.python.org/lib/ast.html) .. [#ast-removal] python-dev email: getting compiler package failures (http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2007-May/007615.html) Copyright ========= This document has been placed in the public domain. .. Local Variables: mode: indented-text indent-tabs-mode: nil sentence-end-double-space: t fill-column: 70 coding: utf-8 End: