[Python-Dev] External Package Maintenance (was Re: Please stopchanging wsgiref on the trunk)

[Giovanni Bajo]

Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:

> Control isn't the issue; it's ensuring that fixes don't get lost or
> reverted from either the external version or the stdlib version.
> Control
> is merely a means to that end.  If we can accomplish that via some
> other
> means (e.g. an Externals/ subtree), I'm all for it.  (Actually,
> perhaps
> Packages/ would be a better name, since the point is that they're
> packages
> that are maintained for separate distribution for older Python
> versions.  They're really *not* "external" any more, they just get
> snapshotted for release.)

IMO, the better way is exactly this you depicted: move the official development
tree into this Externals/ dir *within* Python's repository. Off that, you can
have your own branch for experimental work, from which extract your own
releases, and merge changes back and forth much more simply (since if they
reside on the same repository, you can use svnmerge-like features to find out
modifications and whatnot).

Maintaining an external repository seems like a larger effort, and probably not
worth it.

Giovanni Bajo