[Python-Dev] What is a backport candidate?

[Guido van Rossum]

> When we say "backport candidate", does that mean we need to think
> about it more or that it is waiting for someone like me to pounce on
> it and get it done?

It means somebody (like you :-) should do triage on the feasibility of
it.  The triage can have several outcomes:

- Trivial yes: the patch applies directly to the 2.2 branch and
  doesn't cause problems there.  In this case, you can apply it right
  away and be done with it.

- Trivial no: the patch doesn't make sense at all -- this should only
  happen when the patch patches code that was added in 2.3; in this
  case the backport/bugfix marking was a mistake, but mistakes happen.

- Needs work: the idea behind the patch applies to 2.2, but the code
  there is sufficiently different that patch (or cvs update -j)
  doesn't quite work.  There are gradations of this, depending on
  what's in the way.  In this case, you may put it off.

We need a database of these triage decisions; the new RoundUp-based
tracker (prototype at python.org:8080) is supposed to have a feature
to add this info to the tracker, but I don't know how it works or
whether it is adequate yet.

I'm cc'ing this to python-dev since others may be interested in this
topic.  Also note that I believe we've been inconsistent in marking up
candidates: some say "bugfix candidate", some say "backport
candidate", some may not be marked at all. :-(

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)