[Python-Dev] Source file markers for Tru64?

[Neal Norwitz]

On 8/17/07, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> Neal added it in rev 43214, when it was still PEP 3000. I'm sure he
> didn't read PEP 11 and beyond that I doubt he remembers from where he
> pulled this info. :-)

When I added it in 43214, it was in an outstanding questions section.
It wasn't meant to become gospel. :-)  We have pretty crappy support
for many versions of Unix.  There are various problems with Solaris,
AIX, HP-UX, etc.  Not all the tests work on many of these platforms.
When people report problems, they are almost always left unanswered.
Since it's difficult to get access to boxes with the problems, our
support isn't likely to improve.  That was part of the motivation to
consider removing the code.  Another motivating factor was to
eliminate code and make python easier to maintain.

It may be reasonable that little used platforms are maintained as
patches outside the core.  VMS did this for a long time.  I'm not sure
if stock python has full VMS support or if there are still some
patches necessary.

Below are more details in case anyone cares.

The checkin spawned this thread:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-March/062741.html

One result was that we got a Tru64 buildbot out of it (which I have
access to and help maintain).  I'm not against keeping lesser
platforms.  But if they aren't used, they should be removed.

Here is HP's support for Tru64:  http://h30097.www3.hp.com/support.html

The supported versions show the last released version was V5.1B-4 Dec
2006.  HP still supports B-3 and B-4 for a minimum of 42 months from
release (Jan 2005 for B-3).  The end of support is still TBD for B-3
and B-4.

n
--
>
> On 8/17/07, skip at pobox.com <skip at pobox.com> wrote:
> >
> >     I didn't make it up.  I'm pretty sure I saw it somewhere in either the
> >     wiki, the python-3000 mailing list or in the source code itself.  I'll
> >     dig around some and figure out where I found it.  In the meantime, if
> >     someone else stumbles upon the smoking gun let me know.
> >
> > PEP 3100:
> >
> >     Remove support for old systems, including: BeOS, RISCOS, (SGI) Irix,
> >     Tru64
> >
> > I'll hold off on doing anything more until I can update PEP 11.
> >
> > Skip
> >
>
>
> --
> --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
>