[Python-Dev] Re: curses in the core?

[Eric S. Raymond]

Martin v. Loewis <martin@loewis.home.cs.tu-berlin.de>:
> In the case of curses, I believe there is a documentation error in the
> 2.0 documentation. The curses packages is listed under "Generic
> Operating System Services". I believe this is wrong, it should be listed
> as "Unix Specific Services".

I agree that this is an error and should be fixed.
 
> Unless I'm mistaken, the curses module is not available on the Mac and
> on Windows. With that change, the curses module would then fall into
> Eric's category 2 (Not documented as being in the core and not built
> in by default).

Well...that's a definitional question that is part of the larger issue here.

What does being in the Python core mean?  There are two potential definitions:

1. Documentation says it's available on all platforms.

2. Documentation restricts it to one of the three platform groups 
   (Unix/Windows/Mac) but implies that it will be available on any
   OS in that group.  

I think the second one is closer to what application programmers
thinking about which batteries are included expect.  But I could be
persuaded otherwise by a good argument.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse
every time Congress meets
	-- Will Rogers