[Python-Dev] Backward incompatible API changes in the pydoc module

[Nick Coghlan]

All,

I was about to commit the patch for issue 2001 (the improvements to
the pydoc web server and the removal of the Tk GUI) when I realised
that pydoc.serve() and pydoc.gui() are technically public standard
library APIs (albeit undocumented ones).

Currently the patch switches serve() to start the new server
implementation and gui() to start the server and open a browser window
for it.

It occurred to me that, despite the "it's an application" feel to the
pydoc web server APIs, it may be a better idea to leave the two
existing functions alone (aside from adding DeprecationWarning), and
using new private function names to start the new server and the web
browser.

Is following the standard deprecation procedure the better course
here, or am I being overly paranoid?

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia