[Python-Dev] Re: [XML-SIG] Developer's Day

[Andrew M. Kuchling]

(Responding to the python-dev related portion of this...)

Paul Prescod writes:
>I don't understand this issue. Why would a C extension build on sgmlop
>which is designed to make XML information available to *Python*
>programmers?

No, no; I'm arguing against shipping with Expat; sgmlop good!
Consider this scenario:

	* Python includes Expat 1.0
	* Some C library (for DAV or whatever) uses Expat 1.1
	* Someone writes a Python interface to this C library and
	  attempts to compile it statically.
	* Two versions of Expat in the same binary; symbol conflicts
	  and core dumps, oh my!

>So are you saying that Python 2 might have only five packages and
>everything else must be downloaded? No httplib, no pickle, no random or
>math, no calendar, pwd, grp, imaplib, nntplib, mailbox or rexec?

I'm not arguing for dropping existing packages; I'm against adding
many more of them.  Existing library modules can stay where they are.
But I wouldn't mind a minimalist Python too much, if it came with a
script fetch-basic-packages:

python fetch-packages.py httplib
python fetch-packages.py imaplib
 ...  200 more lines ...

>I'm a little lost here. We need xmllib to continue because distutils
>doesn't do what we need yet but we don't need to put the stuff in the
>Python library because disutils will work well enough soon.

Basically, yes.

-- 
A.M. Kuchling			http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/
And now let us hasten to the station. I have commanded the rain to fall at
exactly one-fifteen and I would hate to get my shoes wet.
    -- Lord Lavender, in SEBASTIAN O #2