[Python-Dev] Re: patchlevel.h

[Jack Jansen]

> > Maybe I should start using the release branch for Mac releases after you are 
> > done with it for the Unix/Windows release. As there is an r22b1 tag to point 
> > to the exact revision used for the release there should be no adverse 
> > consequences. What do you think?
> 
> As before, I think there should be only a single 2.2b1 release. If you
> need to provide binaries, use what was released in the 2.2b1 source
> distribution (which is *not* the Unix release, it is the source
> distribution).

Martin,
while I completely agree with you in principle, in practice this isn't 
possible.
When the release branch is made there's usually a flurry of minor fixes, and 
these are almost guaranteed to break something on the mac. Tiny things, like 
missing casts, but breaks nonetheless. Moreover, the "release loop" is now 
about 24 hours long, according to PEP101, and even extending it seriously 
(like to about a week) still wouldn't guarantee that I could react timely. Not 
only am I 6 hours away from the unix/win release folks, but I also have a 
paying job that is less and less MacPython-related, so I can't firmly commit 
myself.

And it has happened to me already (twice, I think) that there was a 
showstopper bug on the Mac that has caused me to either be very late with a 
release or skip one altogether. This happens on the Mac more often than on 
Unix/Windows, because MacPython relies on a third party unix I/O emulation 
library.

--
Jack Jansen             | ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
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