[Python-Dev] Bugfix releases should not change APIs

[Benjamin Peterson]

2010/5/28 Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com>:
> Terry Reedy wrote:
>> http://bugs.python.org/issue8840
>> I was rather shocked to be told that the code-breaking and
>> policy-violating change was intentional because being 'more consistent
>> with other file-handling APIs out there' was somehow more important than
>> consistency within version releases. It also seems to me that discussion
>> of code-breaking API changes like this should involve more than one user
>> and one developer.

This was discussed on the mailing list and this was produced:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-September/092247.html

> What is the process for ensuring that such API changes do *not* creep
> into maintenance releases?

Generally developers are good about checking with the wider developer
community about possibly incompatible changes. And given the link I
posted above I don't consider this change to have "crept" in.


-- 
Regards,
Benjamin