[Python-Dev] sharing stdlib across python implementations

[Antoine Pitrou]

Chris Withers <chris <at> simplistix.co.uk> writes:
> 
> I'm on on stdlib-sig and I'm afraid I don't have the bandwidth to start 
> on it, but I'd just like to throw in (yet again) that it would be great 
> if the stdlib was actually a set of separate python packages with their 
> own version metadata so that packaging tools could manage them, and 
> upgrade them independently of python packages when there are bug fixes. 

This sounds like a bad idea to me. Each Python release is tested and debugged as
a whole. If you have a lot of possible combinations (module A version 1.1 with
module B version 1.2, etc.), it becomes impossible for us to ensure proper QA
for the whole and as a result the quality might become lower, rather than higher.

(of course, if we rigorously enforce APIs and preserve compatibility, this might
not be a real issue; but our compatibility story is a bit irregular, IMHO)

Regards

Antoine.