[Python-Dev] Re: Patch level versions and new features (Was: Some dull gc stats)

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>
>>>>>Perhaps we could have some kind of category for distutils
>>>>>packages which marks them as system add-ons vs. site add-ons.
>>>>
>>>>+1 -- this should definitely be up to the package author/packager, not
>>>>the local admin.  I once tried to convince Guido that the ability to
>>>>occasionally upgrade standard library modules/packages would be a good
>>>>thing, but he wasn't having it.  Any change of heart, O Mighty BDFL?
>>>
>>>
>>>Before I answer that, here's a question.  Why do we think it's a good
>>>idea to distribute upgrades as separate add-ons while we don't think
>>>it's okay to distribute such upgrades with bugfix releases? 
>>
> 
> [MAL]
> 
>>The idea is to provide bugfixes for Python versions which are
>>no longer being maintained. Of course, the effect would only
>>show a few years ahead.
> 
> 
> Hm, if you really are fixing bugs in old versions, why not patch the
> Python installation in-place rather than trying to play nice?

We don't have an easy way of doing this, unless of course
we trick python setup.py install to install directly into
.../lib/pythonX.X rather than a sub directory on the path.

>>>Doesn't
>>>this just increase the variability of site configurations, and hence
>>>version interaction hell?
>>
>>I don't think that core packages are any different than
>>other third party packages: they are usually independent
>>enough from the rest of the code that upgrades don't affect
>>the workings of the other code using it. The internals are
>>free to change, though, e.g. to accomodate bug fixes, etc.
> 
> Well, I don't expect that we'll do independent upgrades for core
> packages, so I propose to end this thread.

Barry is already doing this with the email package and
I would expect more such packages to make their way into
the core. The PyXML package also has a life of its own
outside the core distribution and could benefit from this.

I think it's too early to end the thread.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
CEO eGenix.com Software GmbH
_______________________________________________________________________
eGenix.com -- Makers of the Python mx Extensions: mxDateTime,mxODBC,...
Python Consulting:                               http://www.egenix.com/
Python Software:                    http://www.egenix.com/files/python/