[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "PH" == Paul Hughett <hughett@mercur.uphs.upenn.edu> writes:

  PH> As an extension developer, I see considerable advantages to
  PH> having separate stable and experimental tracks, a la Linux.

Paul,

Do you ever do build Python from a cvs checkout?  It seems to me that
what you call an experimental track, we call a "cvs checkout."  What
you call a stable releases, we call a release.

  PH> The key distinction, as I see it, is that the stable track has
  PH> most of the bugs fixed, is recommended for production use
  PH> (though not perfect), and that any code that works with stable
  PH> version N will almost certainly work with version N+1, but it
  PH> doesn't have all the latest and greatest features.

I think all of this was true of Python 2.1 & 2.2 and will be true of
2.3.

Sure, there are bugs in 2.1 & 2.2, but we fixed the ones we knew how
to fix.  I expect that "stable" Linux kernel releases also have bugs,
else I wouldn't have a 2.2.12 release on my home machine :-).

Jeremy