[Python-Dev] folding cElementTree behind ElementTree in 3.3

[Paul Moore]

On 8 February 2012 09:49, Eli Bendersky <eliben at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I concur. It's important that we consider Fredrik's ownership of the
>> modules, but if he fails to reply to email and doesn't update his
>> repositories, there should be enough cause for python-dev to go on and
>> appropriate the stdlib versions of those modules.
>
> +1.
>
> That said, I think that the particular change discussed in this thread
> can be made anyway, since it doesn't really modify ET's APIs or
> functionality, just the way it gets imported from stdlib.

I would suggest that, assuming python-dev want to take ownership of
the module, one last-ditch attempt be made to contact Fredrik. We
should email him, and copy python-dev (and maybe even python-list)
asking for his view, and ideally his blessing on the stdlib version
being forked and maintained independently going forward. Put a time
limit on responses ("if we don't hear by XXX, we'll assume Fredrik is
either uncontactable or not interested, and therefore we can go ahead
with maintaining the stdlib version independently").

It's important to respect Fredrik's wishes and ownership, but we can't
leave part of the stdlib frozen and abandoned just because he's not
available any longer.

Paul.

PS The only other options I can see are to remove elementtree from the
stdlib altogether, or explicitly document it as frozen and no longer
maintained.