[Python-Dev] PEP 3147: PYC Repository Directories

[Barry Warsaw]

On Feb 06, 2010, at 04:39 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:

>The conflict is purely that PEP 3147 proposes the new behavior to be
>optional, and adds a flag (-R) and an environment variable
>($PYTHONPYR) to change it. I presume Barry is proposing this out of
>fear that the new behavior might upset somebody; personally I think it
>would be better if the behavior weren't optional. At least not in new
>Python releases

Good to know!  Yes, that's one reason why I made it option, the other being
that I suspect most people don't care about the original use case (making sure
pyc files from different Python versions don't conflict).  However, with a
folder-per-folder approach, the side benefit of reducing directory clutter by
hiding all the pyc files becomes more compelling.

> -- in backports such as a distribution that wants this
>feature might make, it may make sense to be more conservative, or at
>least to have a way to turn it off.

For backports I think the most conservative approach is to require a flag to
enable this behavior.  If we make this the default for new versions of Python
(something I'd support) then tools written for Python >= 3.2 will know this is
just how it's done.  I worry about existing deployed tools for Python < 2.7
and 3.1.

How about this: enable it by default in 3.2 and 2.7.  No option to disable it.
Allow distro back ports to define a flag or environment variable to enable it.
The PEP can even be silent about how that's actually done, and a Debian
implementation for Python 2.6 or 3.1 could even use the (now documented :) -X
flag.

-Barry
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