[Python-Dev] PEP 382: Namespace Packages

[Jesse Noller]

On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 12:28 PM, R. David Murray <rdmurray at bitdance.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 at 12:00, Jesse Noller wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
>>>
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>>> On Apr 6, 2009, at 9:21 AM, Jesse Noller wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 4:33 PM, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2009-04-02 17:32, Martin v. Löwis wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I propose the following PEP for inclusion to Python 3.1.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for picking this up.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to extend the proposal to Python 2.7 and later.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -1 to adding it to the 2.x series. There was much discussion around
>>>> adding features to 2.x *and* 3.0, and the consensus seemed to *not*
>>>> add new features to 2.x and use those new features as carrots to help
>>>> lead people into 3.0.
>>>
>>> Actually, isn't the policy just that nothing can go into 2.7 that isn't
>>> backported from 3.1?  Whether the actual backport happens or not is up to
>>> the developer though.  OTOH, we talked about a lot of things and my
>>> recollection is probably fuzzy.
>>>
>>> Barry
>>
>> That *is* the official policy, but there was discussions around no
>> further backporting of features from 3.1 into 2.x, therefore providing
>> more of an upgrade incentive
>
> My sense was that this wasn't proposed as a hard and fast rule, more
> as a strongly suggested guideline.
>
> And in this case, I think you could argue that the PEP is actually
> fixing a bug in the current namespace packaging system.
>
> Some projects, especially the large ones where this matters most, are
> going to have to maintain backward compatibility for 2.x for a long time
> even as 3.x adoption accelerates.  It seems a shame to require packagers
> to continue to deal with the problems caused by the current system even
> after all the platforms have made it to 2.7+.
>
> --David

I know it wasn't a hard and fast rule; also, with 3to2 already being
worked on, the barrier of maintenance and back porting is going to be
lowered.