[Python-Dev] Mercurial migration: help needed

[Mark Hammond]

On 22/08/2009 6:52 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Mark Hammond writes:
>   >  On 22/08/2009 2:46 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>
>   >  Possibly - although I would expect the existing section names be reused
>   >  when applied to a versioned file, I'd be more than happy for the hg guys
>   >  to declare new names are appropriate for this.
>
> If there's already an [Encode] section, that's different.  (I don't
> details, I'm not that big a Mercurial fan.)  But you'd still need a
> way to differentiate win32text rules from other encoding rules.

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying to avoid bike-shedding what 
the hg guys are better placed to decree.  How they choose to spell these 
options is something for hg to decide, and I doubt my opinion matters 
enough to bother sharing, let alone advocating.

>
>   >  >    >   This way you aren't *enabling* extensions in this versioned file,
>   >  >
>   >  >  True, but how many people will just download the extension and enable
>   >  >  it?
>   >
>   >  In the ideal world, exactly as many people who would read the Python
>   >  developer guide, then download and install the extension based purely on
>   >  that.  IOW, it is Python itself setting the policy, so people need to
>   >  make their own decisions based on that, regardless of whether the tool
>   >  enforces it or not.
>
> You're missing the point.  I'm not talking about whether it will work
> for Python, I'm talking about the worry that somebody will post a way
> cool Python branch and require a private extension, which everybody
> will just automatically install and enable, which extension then
> proceeds to phone home to Spammer Haven, Inc. with the contents of
> your email contact list.  That's what I mean by "social engineering,"
> and why I worry about policy pushback from Mercurial HQ.

No, you are missing the point - social engineering doesn't require tool 
support - tools simply make certain things easier.

> Maybe that's more paranoid than they are....  But it can't hurt your
> cause to be ready for that kind of worry.

If this becomes seen as 'my' cause, I suspect it will run out of steam 
very quickly.  I truly hope python-dev, as a community, takes some 
ownership of this issue or I predict the effort will fizzle out without 
a workable solution.  There seem to be a number of people who agree the 
status-quo isn't acceptable, so I'm not sure what would happen in that 
case...

Cheers,

Mark