[Python-Dev] PEP 407: New release cycle and introducing long-term support versions

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:37:08 +0900
"Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:
>  > availability of release management volunteers,
> 
> Dramatic increase here.  It may look like RM is not so demanding --
> run a few scripts to put out the alphas/betas/releases.  But the RM
> needs to stay on top of breaking news, make decisions.  That takes
> time, interrupts other work, etc.

Georg and Barry may answer you here: they are release managers and PEP
co-authors.

>  > quick availability of new features (and behavioural changes),
> 
> These are already *available*, just not *tested*.
> 
> Since testing is the bottleneck on what users consider to be
> "available for me", you cannot decrease the amount of testing (alpha,
> beta releases) by anywhere near the amount you're increasing
> frequency, or you're just producing "as is" snapshots.

The point is to *increase* the amount of testing by making features
available in stable releases on a more frequent basis. Not decrease it.

Alphas and betas never produce much feedback, because people are
reluctant to install them for anything else than toying around. Python
is not emacs or Firefox, you don't use it in a vacuum and therefore
installing non-stable versions is dangerous.

Regards

Antoine.