[Python-Dev] sharing stdlib across python implementations

[Chris Withers]

Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> 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.

I'd certainly still see there being "blessed" python releases.
(The Zope community does this in the form of "known good sets" and 
these, for me, would be "the python releases")

However, it's pretty frustrating to not be able to upgrade a pure-python 
package with a critical bug (as happened recently to me with httplib) 
because it's part of the stdlib.

It's also frustrating to have to if-then-else about a package or 
project's dependencies when using dependency management tools like 
buildout when libraries such as elementtree and argparse become part of 
the stdlib when they weren't before...

> (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)

Breaking it apart like this would *make* the compatibility story better...

Chris

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