[Python-Dev] Need Survey Answers from Core Developers

[Anthony Baxter]

On Saturday 19 May 2007, skip at pobox.com wrote:
>     Jeff> 1) How is the project governed?  How does the community
> make Jeff>    decisions on what goes into a release?

> Consensus (most of the time) and GvR pronouncements for
> significant changes.  There are situations where Guido has simply
> pronounced when the community seemed unable to settle on one
> solution.  Decorators come to mind.

Plus of course there's the minor detail of features needing to be 
implemented. If no-one steps up to complete something, it can just 
get deferred. See PEP 356's list of deferred features. 

>     Jeff> 2) Does the language have a formal defined release
> plan?
>
>     Jeff>    I know Zope 3's release plan, every six months, but
> not that of Jeff>    Python.  Is there a requirement to push a
> release out the door Jeff>    every N months, as some projects
> do, or is each release Jeff>    separately negotiated with
> developers around a planned set Jeff>    of features?
>
> PEP 6? PEP 101?  PEP 102?
>
> There is no hard-and-fast time schedule.  I believe minor
> releases leave the station approximately every 18-24 months,
> micro releases roughly every six months.

The goal is to have a major release (I consider 2.5, 2.6 &c to 
be "major", and 2.5.1, 2.5.2 &c "minor" - this is how it's always 
been, afaik) "when they're done". Typically this is around 18-24 
months. There's not (yet?) a formal release plan for the 
minor/bugfix releases, but they've been every 6 months since late 
2003. Obviously, if a major bug is found then a release happens 
sooner.

> Jeff> 3) Some crude idea of how many new major and minor
> features were 
> Jeff>    added in the last release?  Yes, I know 
> this is difficult -- the 
> Jeff>    idea it so get some measure of 
> the evolution/stability of cPython 
> Jeff>    re features.  Jython 
> and IronPython are probably changing rapidly 
> Jeff>    -- cPython, 
> not such much.

We don't break down "major" or "minor" features, but according to 
the What's New In Python 2.5 doc:

> A search through the
> SVN change logs finds there were 353 patches applied and 458 bugs
> fixed between Python 2.4 and 2.5.  (Both figures are likely to be
> underestimates.) 

The distinction between major and minor feature is pretty arbitrary, 
obviously.


-- 
Anthony Baxter     <anthony at interlink.com.au>
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.