[Python-Dev] XXX do we need a new policy?

[Barry Warsaw]

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On Nov 3, 2008, at 6:39 PM, Benjamin Peterson wrote:

> Grepping through Python's sources tells me that we have over 2,000
> "XXX" comments. The thing that irks me about them is that the have a
> very slow rate of being resolved, since they usually act more as
> "notes to self" rather than easily attainable tasks.
>
> So, I propose that we adopt a policy similar to Twisted's: All "XXX"
> comments must have an issue in the tracker and an accompanying link
> with the source code. That way we'll have a forum for discussing the
> changes and deciding whether they are reasonable enough to
> implemented.

We have a very similar policy here at work.  Sadly I don't think it  
does much on actually resolving the issues.  XXX bugs tend to be  
pretty minor in the scheme of things and they're almost always lower  
on the priority list than everything else.

That being said, we recognize that XXX bugs incur "technical debt" and  
reducing that debt is something we're devoting Real Time to doing.

I see that Guido is not keen on the idea, and I'm not sure my  
observations help sway things one way or the other.  OTOH, it would be  
nice if at least we always add our own identifier (initials, nick,  
email address) and a date to the XXX so we at least know who was  
talking about what.

- -Barry

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