[Mailman-Developers] Maybe it's time to release 2.1.6

[Ian Eiloart]

--On Friday, December 3, 2004 13:41:10 GMT +0900 "Stephen J. Turnbull" 
<stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:

>>>>>> "Ian" == Ian Eiloart <iane at sussex.ac.uk> writes:
>
>     Ian> However, MacOSX and MacOSX Server have python Python 2.3 (#1,
>     Ian> Sep 13 2003, 00:49:11), so requiring 2.4 could cause pain for
>     Ian> anyone with a Mac installation of Mailman.
>
> I'm not going to deprecate someone else's pain, but (1) Apple already
> has a couple of "multi-version" applications standard (in particular,
> GCC, see the gcc_select utility), and (2) I'm currently having no
> problem with coexistence among the Apple-provided Python, two Fink
> versions (2.2 and 2.3), and a DarwinPorts version (2.3).  I don't know
> about Fink, but DarwinPorts has been providing a 2.4 package since the
> alphas started (and maybe before).
>
> Both Fink and DarwinPorts have their issues, but so far Python isn't
> one of them.  (Actually, only ghc and the X distributions have given
> me any trouble at all in DarwinPorts, and my issues with Fink mostly
> are of the form "too many applications that don't need to be linked to
> GNOME are linked to GNOME".)
>
> So it may not be all that difficult for admins of Apple boxes to work
> around this.

Yes, of course it isn't a show stopper. Of course there are ways around the 
problem. However, the OP asked if requiring 2.4 would cause problems for 
anyone. The answer is yes: for users of MacOSX, and some other platforms 
apparently, the requirement would create extra work, and therefore inhibit 
some people from upgrading.

For each of those platforms, no doubt, there are workarounds. However, its 
not enough just to do the workaround. I have to be sure that some Apple 
update is not going to undo the workaround. I have to document the 
workaround, and educate my colleagues to understand it. I have to be sure 
that *I'm* going to remember what I did in six months time.

Yes, that's all doable, and I probably would do it. For some people though, 
it will be a show stopper. For others it will delay their implementation. 
For these reasons, it is necessary to be cautious about upping the install 
requirements.


-- 
Ian Eiloart
Servers Team
Sussex University ITS