[Python-Dev] Regular scheduled releases

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Am 30.10.2010 14:29, schrieb Dirkjan Ochtman:
> On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 14:09, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
>> I don't feel like producing a complete list of build steps; the entire
>> process takes about four hours.
> 
> So is most of this scripted, or is there just a process in your head?

Define "most". There hundreds of commands that run automatically (like
all compiler invocations). But still, there are about 20 steps that are
in my head, some written down in plain English.

But yes, "most" of the steps (by sheer number) are automated.

> Why are those steps difficult to automate? I'd think that uploading is
> just some ftp commands.

No, it's ssh, and you need access to the right key. More importantly,
it's editing content.ht, to update the links, compute and copy the
md5sums and size, and svn add the GPG signatures.

It *could* be automated, I suppose. It just isn't, and it would take
quite some time to automate it.

> Testing the resulting installer could
> probably be automated in part, and people could still download the
> nightlies to do more testing.

People will never ever test nightly builds. Been there, done that.
Instead, the nightly build process will break, and nobody will fix
it for months (or even complain, for that matter).

I also doubt that the installer could be automatically tested with
reasonable effort.

Regards,
Martin