[Python-Dev] Any NeXT users out there?

[Martin v. Loewis]

> Sharing is the answer.
...
> This is probably the crux of your reasoning, and I think I
> disagree. For one, MacOSX (ok, OpenStep is where they got it from)
> is the first unix-based system that I'm aware of that seems to have
> a solution to the versioning problem.

I'm a bit sceptical to any claim that the software versioning problem
is "solved"; experience tells me it isn't. If you allow me to make
some half-serious predictions out of the blue, I'd say:

- The API will change more often than you'ld like, so the newer
  version cannot replace the older one in a compatible way.

- every potential application that could make use of the Python
  framework will come with its own copy of Python, just to reduce the
  hassles for the users of the application to get a separate copy of
  Python, and to allow them to completely uninstall everything by
  deleting a single directory. This, specifically, includes Zope,
  which by tradition always comes with its own Python installation
  (with extension modules and everything).

- whenever the framework really is shared across applications, people
  will find that the application that did not bring the framework will
  break in subtle ways; authors of the application will stop using the
  framework in their next release.

So the only application that really ever uses the framework will be
the interpreter proper.

That said, I see that your patch removes a lot of old next stuff, and
replaces it with something that at least functions as designed, so I'm
+0 on this patch. I may be wrong with my predictions, and the only way
to prove me wrong is to use this patch, so just go ahead.

Regards,
Martin