[Python-Dev] Community buildbots and Python release quality metrics
Terry Reedy
tjreedy at udel.edu
Thu Jun 26 22:02:19 CEST 2008
glyph at divmod.com wrote:
> to what extent should Python actually be compatible between releases?
As I understand things from years of observation, the following are fair
game to changed in ways possibly backward-incompatible for specific
code: bugs, detailed float behavior (which may be system-specific
anyway), error messages, private interfaces, non-enforcement of
documented rules, and defined implementation-dependent behavior. But
Guido has been somewhat conservative about this (least so for bug fixes,
I think) and sometimes put off changes even when the fault lies with
questionable usages.
One fly in the ointment is that bugs (a discrepancy between doc and
code) may be fixed either by changing the doc or the code, according to
which embodies the design intention. So neither can be taken as gospel.
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