[Python-Dev] zipfile.py

[Greg Stein]

On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, James C. Ahlstrom wrote:
> "M.-A. Lemburg" wrote:
> > I guess it would be ok to waste space. You could provide
> > a .cleanup() or .rewrite() method that takes care of
> > reorganizing the file to fill up the gaps.
> 
> OK, adding a duplicate name replaces the old file.

But it shouldn't print a warning(!). If an application wants to replace a
file, then stuff shouldn't appear on stdout as a result.

> > Well the module seems to work just fine with compression
> > on, so disallowing it or issuing a warning would reduce its value,
> > IMHO.
> 
> Yes compression works, but 90% of Python installations don't have
> zlib, so it is an ERROR to create archives with compression when
> these archives are distributed to other sites.

While it may be problem to distribute them to other sites, that is not up
to the library. If I want compression, then I should get compression. A
library module should not determine application-level policy.

The warning that __init__ prints shouldn't be there.

Really: there should not be a single "print" in the library (well,
printdir() is fine... that's what it is supposed to do; printing in the
test code would be fine). In normal, or even exceptional(!), operation
there should never be a print.

> > How about making compression a boolean value and then
> > converting any true value to 8 ?
> 
> It would close the door to future or other compression methods.
> Currently the method must be 0 or 8 or a traceback will result.

I definitely agree with JimA here. For example, maybe we want bzip
compression in there. Sure, non-portable, but that's my problem :-)

Cheers,
-g

-- 
Greg Stein, http://www.lyra.org/