[Python-checkins] peps: Update PEP 11 to be more clear about what is required to gain support for a

[brett.cannon]

https://hg.python.org/peps/rev/00f5ef44638e
changeset:   5714:00f5ef44638e
user:        Brett Cannon <brett at python.org>
date:        Fri Feb 27 09:35:12 2015 -0500
summary:
  Update PEP 11 to be more clear about what is required to gain support for a platform for CPython

files:
  pep-0011.txt |  76 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
  1 files changed, 57 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)


diff --git a/pep-0011.txt b/pep-0011.txt
--- a/pep-0011.txt
+++ b/pep-0011.txt
@@ -2,51 +2,88 @@
 Title: Removing support for little used platforms
 Version: $Revision$
 Last-Modified: $Date$
-Author: martin at v.loewis.de (Martin von Löwis)
+Author: Martin von Löwis <martin at v.loewis.de>,
+        Brett Cannon <brett at python.org>
 Status: Active
 Type: Process
 Content-Type: text/x-rst
 Created: 07-Jul-2002
 Post-History: 18-Aug-2007
+              16-May-2014
+              20-Feb-2015
 
 
 Abstract
 --------
 
-This PEP documents operating systems (platforms) which are not
-supported in Python anymore.  For some of these systems,
-supporting code might be still part of Python, but will be removed
-in a future release - unless somebody steps forward as a volunteer
-to maintain this code.
+This PEP documents how an operating system (platform) becomes
+supported in CPython and documents past support.
 
 
 Rationale
 ---------
 
-Over time, the Python source code has collected various pieces of
+Over time, the CPython source code has collected various pieces of
 platform-specific code, which, at some point in time, was
 considered necessary to use Python on a specific platform.
 Without access to this platform, it is not possible to determine
 whether this code is still needed.  As a result, this code may
-either break during the Python evolution, or it may become
+either break during Python's evolution, or it may become
 unnecessary as the platforms evolve as well.
 
 The growing amount of these fragments poses the risk of
 unmaintainability: without having experts for a large number of
 platforms, it is not possible to determine whether a certain
-change to the Python source code will work on all supported
+change to the CPython source code will work on all supported
 platforms.
 
-To reduce this risk, this PEP proposes a procedure to remove code
-for platforms with no Python users.
+To reduce this risk, this PEP specifies what is required for a
+platform to be considered supported by Python as well as providing a
+procedure to remove code for platforms with few or no Python
+users.
 
+Supporting platforms
+--------------------
+
+Gaining official platform support requires two things. First, a core
+developer needs to volunteer to maintain platform-specific code. This
+core developer can either already be a member of the Python
+development team or be given contributor rights on the basis of
+maintaining platform support (it is at the discretion of the Python
+development team to decide if a person is ready to have such rights
+even if it is just for supporting a specific platform).
+
+Second, a stable buildbot must be provided [2]_. This guarantees that
+platform support will not be accidentally broken by a Python core
+developer who does not have personal access to the platform. For a
+buildbot to be considered stable it requires that the machine be
+reliably up and functioning (but it is up to the Python core
+developers to decide whether to promote a buildbot to being
+considered stable).
+
+This policy does not disqualify supporting other platforms
+indirectly. Patches which are not platform-specific but still done to
+add platform support will be considered for inclusion. For example,
+if platform-independent changes were necessary in the configure
+script which were motivated to support a specific platform that could
+be accepted. Patches which add platform-specific code such as the
+name of a specific platform to the configure script will generally
+not be accepted without the platform having official support.
+
+CPU architecture and compiler support are viewed in a similar manner
+as platforms. For example, to consider the ARM architecture supported
+a buildbot running on ARM would be required along with support from
+the Python development team. In general it is not required to have
+a CPU architecture run under every possible platform in order to be
+considered supported.
 
 Unsupporting platforms
 ----------------------
 
-If a certain platform that currently has special code in it is
-deemed to be without Python users, a note must be posted in this
-PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported.  This
+If a certain platform that currently has special code in CPython is
+deemed to be without enough Python users or lacks proper support from
+the Python development team and/or a buildbot, a note must be posted
+in this PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported.  This
 note must include:
 
 - the name of the system
@@ -62,15 +99,15 @@
 condition (usually a preprocessor symbol) that will become
 unsupported.
 
-At the same time, the Python source code must be changed to
+At the same time, the CPython source code must be changed to
 produce a build-time error if somebody tries to install Python on
 this platform.  On platforms using autoconf, configure must fail.
 This gives potential users of the platform a chance to step
 forward and offer maintenance.
 
 
-Resupporting platforms
-----------------------
+Re-supporting platforms
+-----------------------
 
 If a user of a platform wants to see this platform supported
 again, he may volunteer to maintain the platform support.  Such an
@@ -87,7 +124,7 @@
 support phase, where paid support is still available, and certain bug
 fixes are released (in particular security fixes).
 
-Python's Windows support now follows this lifecycle. A new feature
+CPython's Windows support now follows this lifecycle. A new feature
 release X.Y.0 will support all Windows releases whose extended support
 phase is not yet expired. Subsequent bug fix releases will support
 the same Windows releases as the original feature release (even if
@@ -101,7 +138,7 @@
 release is made. Developers of extension modules will generally need
 to use the same Visual Studio release; they are concerned both with
 the availability of the versions they need to use, and with keeping
-the zoo of versions small. The Python source tree will keep 
+the zoo of versions small. The CPython source tree will keep
 unmaintained build files for older Visual Studio releases, for which
 patches will be accepted. Such build files will be removed from the
 source tree 3 years after the extended support for the compiler has
@@ -223,6 +260,7 @@
 ----------
 
 .. [1] http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/
+.. [2] http://buildbot.python.org/3.x.stable/
 
 Copyright
 ---------

-- 
Repository URL: https://hg.python.org/peps