[Python-Dev] folding cElementTree behind ElementTree in 3.3

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> That makes me consider it the reality that "today, ET is only being
> maintained in the stdlib".

I think different people will have different perceptions of reality here.

In my interaction with Fredrik Lundh, I got the impression that he might
consider code still maintained even if he didn't touch it for five and
more years - as he might get back some time and work on it, and as it
may not have significant bugs that need fixing.

If someone steps into charge and actually takes over ElementTree
maintainance, that would be fine with me (as long as I have some trust
that he'll continue to work on it for the next five years). We might
have to "write off" contributions from Fredrik Lundh to Python because
of that.

Notice that the last time something like this came up (bsddb), it
actually resulted in a removal of the respective package from the
standard library.

> Given that it was two months ago that I started the "Fixing the XML
> batteries" thread (and years since I brought up the topic for the first
> time), it seems to be hard enough already to get anyone on python-dev
> actually do something for Python's XML support, instead of just actively
> discouraging those who invest time and work into it.

It depends on the nature of the changes you want to see done. Just
bashing some piece of code is not something that I personally consider
a worthwhile thing, so I'll likely continue to discourage changes in
a direction that demeans some XML library in favor of some other.

Regards,
Martin