[Python-Dev] Issue 11715: building Python from source on multiarch Debian/Ubuntu

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:57:53 -0400
Eric Smith <eric at trueblade.com> wrote:
> On 4/1/2011 6:46 AM, Georg Brandl wrote:
> > Am 31.03.2011 19:35, schrieb Éric Araujo:
> >>> I would like to apply this patch (or its moral equivalent) to all active,
> >>> affected branches of Python, meaning 2.5 through 2.7, and 3.1 through 3.3, as
> >>> soon as possible.  Without this, it will be very difficult for anyone on
> >>> future Ubuntu or Debian releases to build Python.  Since it's not a new
> >>> feature, but just a minor fix to the build process, I think it should be okay
> >>> to back port.
> >>
> >> If I understand the policy correctly, 2.5 and 2.6 are not considered
> >> active branches, so any doc, build or bug fixes are not acceptable.
> > 
> > I wouldn't say doc fixes are not acceptable, but they are rather pointless
> > since there won't be any more online docs or released docs for those versions.
> 
> And I don't see a problem with build fixes. It's not like we're adding
> language features. If it makes someone's life easier, then what's the harm?

Well, how is this different from bug fixes?
The policy is that we don't do bug fixes in security branches. We could
change it of course, but introducing special cases through a weird
interpretation of the rule sounds like a recipe for confusion,
theirs and ours.

(and, no, I don't think building an old Python on a new Debian/Ubuntu
system is anymore important than other kinds of bug or build fixes;
let's stop implying that Ubuntu is the dominant OS out there, because
it's really not)

Regards

Antoine.