[Python-Dev] no remaining issues blocking 2.5 release

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> On 8/15/06, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
>> The distutils version number should be changed back to a static
>> string literal.
>>
>> It's currently setup to get its version number
>> from the Python version running it which pretty much defeats
>> the whole purpose of having a version number and makes using the
>> SVN distutils package with other Python versions problematic.
> 
> I am sympathetic to this case. Is there any advantage to the *users*
> of distutils of the dynamic version number? If it's only done for the
> benefit of the release managers (with whose plight I also
> sympathesize)

FWIW, I've already volunteered to do the version bumping to take
that burden off the release managers.

> I think it must be rolled back, at least as long as
> distutils is officially listed as a package that needs to support
> older versions of Python, which pretty much implies that it's okay to
> extract it from the 2.5 release and distribute it separately for use
> with older Python versions.

Well, that's another point we should discuss after 2.5 is
out the door: distutils was delisted from PEP 291 (without
public discussion).

I find it important to maintain distutils compatibility with
a few Python versions back. Even if I can't volunteer to
maintain distutils, like Martin suggested, due to lack of time,
I don't really see the requirement to use the latest and greatest
Python features in distutils, so preserving compatibility
with the commonly used Python versions wouldn't hurt.

It makes the life of Python extension writers a tad easier
and Python users benefit as a result of being able to download
pre-built binaries without being forced to upgrade (this is
esp. true for Python users on Windows).

Thanks,
-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
eGenix.com

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