[Python-Dev] why is _PyBytes_Join not public but PyUnicode_Join is?

[Nick Coghlan]

On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 8:24 PM, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
> So by default, all new functions should be internal API (static if
> possible), until somebody has explicitly considered use cases and
> considered what kind of stability can be guaranteed for the API.

The other aspect we're conscious of these days is that folks like the
IronClad and cpyext developers *are* making a concerted effort to
emulate the full C API of CPython-the-runtime, not just implementing
Python-the-language.

External tools like Dave Malcolm's static analyser for gcc also need
to be taught the refcounting semantics of any new API additions.

So, unless there's a compelling reason for direct public access from
C, the preferred option is to only expose the corresponding Python API
via the general purpose APIs for calling back into Python from C
extensions. This minimises the induced workload on other groups, as
well as making future maintenance easier for CPython itself.

New additions are still possible - they're just not the default any more.

Cheers,
Nick.

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