[Python-Dev] Update to PEP 11 to clarify garnering platform support

[Brett Cannon]

I just realized I actually never committed this change. Assuming no new
objections I'll commit this in the near future (promise this time =).

On Fri May 16 2014 at 1:51:00 PM Brett Cannon <bcannon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here is some proposed wording. Since it is more of a clarification of what
> it takes to garner support -- which is just a new section -- rather than a
> complete rewrite I'm including just the diff to make it easier to read the
> changes.
>
>
> *diff -r 49d18bb47ebc pep-0011.txt*
>
> *--- a/pep-0011.txt Wed May 14 11:18:22 2014 -0400*
>
> *+++ b/pep-0011.txt Fri May 16 13:48:30 2014 -0400*
>
> @@ -2,22 +2,21 @@
>
>  Title: Removing support for little used platforms
>
>  Version: $Revision$
>
>  Last-Modified: $Date$
>
> -Author: martin at v.loewis.de (Martin von Löwis)
>
> +Author: Martin von Löwis <martin at v.loewis.de>,
>
> +        Brett Cannon <brett at python.org>
>
>  Status: Active
>
>  Type: Process
>
>  Content-Type: text/x-rst
>
>  Created: 07-Jul-2002
>
>  Post-History: 18-Aug-2007
>
> +              16-May-2014
>
>
>
>
>
>  Abstract
>
>  --------
>
>
>
> -This PEP documents operating systems (platforms) which are not
>
> -supported in Python anymore.  For some of these systems,
>
> -supporting code might be still part of Python, but will be removed
>
> -in a future release - unless somebody steps forward as a volunteer
>
> -to maintain this code.
>
> +This PEP documents how an operating system (platform) garners
>
> +support in Python as well as documenting past support.
>
>
>
>
>
>  Rationale
>
> @@ -37,16 +36,53 @@
>
>  change to the Python source code will work on all supported
>
>  platforms.
>
>
>
> -To reduce this risk, this PEP proposes a procedure to remove code
>
> -for platforms with no Python users.
>
> +To reduce this risk, this PEP specifies what is required for a
>
> +platform to be considered supported by Python as well as providing a
>
> +procedure to remove code for platforms with little or no Python
>
> +users.
>
>
>
> +Supporting platforms
>
> +--------------------
>
> +
>
> +Gaining official platform support requires two things. First, a core
>
> +developer needs to volunteer to maintain platform-specific code. This
>
> +core developer can either already be a member of the Python
>
> +development team or be given contributor rights on the basis of
>
> +maintaining platform support (it is at the discretion of the Python
>
> +development team to decide if a person is ready to have such rights
>
> +even if it is just for supporting a specific platform).
>
> +
>
> +Second, a stable buildbot must be provided [2]_. This guarantees that
>
> +platform support will not be accidentally broken by a Python core
>
> +developer who does not have personal access to the platform. For a
>
> +buildbot to be considered stable it requires that the machine be
>
> +reliably up and functioning (but it is up to the Python core
>
> +developers to decide whether to promote a buildbot to being
>
> +considered stable).
>
> +
>
> +This policy does not disqualify supporting other platforms
>
> +indirectly. Patches which are not platform-specific but still done to
>
> +add platform support will be considered for inclusion. For example,
>
> +if platform-independent changes were necessary in the configure
>
> +script which was motivated to support a specific platform that would
>
> +be accepted. Patches which add platform-specific code such as the
>
> +name of a specific platform to the configure script will generally
>
> +not be accepted without the platform having official support.
>
> +
>
> +CPU architecture and compiler support are viewed in a similar manner
>
> +as platforms. For example, to consider the ARM architecture supported
>
> +a buildbot running on ARM would be required along with support from
>
> +the Python development team. In general it is not required to have
>
> +a CPU architecture run under every possible platform in order to be
>
> +considered supported.
>
>
>
>  Unsupporting platforms
>
>  ----------------------
>
>
>
> -If a certain platform that currently has special code in it is
>
> -deemed to be without Python users, a note must be posted in this
>
> -PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported.  This
>
> +If a certain platform that currently has special code in Python is
>
> +deemed to be without Python users or lacks proper support from the
>
> +Python development team and/or a buildbot, a note must be posted in
>
> +this PEP that this platform is no longer actively supported.  This
>
>  note must include:
>
>
>
>  - the name of the system
>
> @@ -69,8 +105,8 @@
>
>  forward and offer maintenance.
>
>
>
>
>
> -Resupporting platforms
>
> -----------------------
>
> +Re-supporting platforms
>
> +-----------------------
>
>
>
>  If a user of a platform wants to see this platform supported
>
>  again, he may volunteer to maintain the platform support.  Such an
>
> @@ -101,7 +137,7 @@
>
>  release is made. Developers of extension modules will generally need
>
>  to use the same Visual Studio release; they are concerned both with
>
>  the availability of the versions they need to use, and with keeping
>
> -the zoo of versions small. The Python source tree will keep
>
> +the zoo of versions small. The Python source tree will keep
>
>  unmaintained build files for older Visual Studio releases, for which
>
>  patches will be accepted. Such build files will be removed from the
>
>  source tree 3 years after the extended support for the compiler has
>
> @@ -223,6 +259,7 @@
>
>  ----------
>
>
>
>  .. [1] http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/
>
> +.. [2] http://buildbot.python.org/3.x.stable/
>
>
>
>  Copyright
>
>  ---------
>
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