[Python-Dev] Soliciting comments on the future of the cmdmodule (bpo-33233)

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, Apr 07, 2018 at 09:30:05AM +0100, Paul Moore wrote:
> On 7 April 2018 at 04:13, Steve Dower <steve.dower at python.org> wrote:
> > Better to deprecate it before it becomes broken, in my opinion.

That argument could be applied to everything in the std lib.


> > Having someone willing and able to review and merge changes is the best
> > criteria for whether a module is still supported or not.

I don't think "best" is justified -- and certainly it is not the *only* 
criteria.

Modules can become stable simply because they have no known bugs and no 
new feature requests. Stable doesn't mean useless, and the urge to 
consider anything that isn't being regularly fiddled with as "obsolete" 
is a tendency to be resisted.

If the module isn't broken, there's no need to fix it. That's a GOOD 
thing, not a reason to dump a perfectly good, useful, working module.

Raymond has stated that he is happy to work on it if there are any bugs 
reported on it, and if he's not available, I'm sure somebody will. And 
if not, well, we don't have any sort of performance guarantees on fixes: 
sooner or later, *somebody* will provide a patch. That's the beauty of 
the Open Source model. There are plenty of potential upstream 
contributors who could contribute a patch.


> I think there's a difference between not being willing to add
> enhancements, and not fixing bugs. The issue that originally triggered
> this discussion was an enhancement request, and I don't think it's
> unreasonable to declare cmd as "stable - no further enhancements will
> be made or accepted" while still considering it as supported for
> bugfixes.

Its not an unreasonable position to take, but I don't think it is 
justified in this case. The cmd module is not something so arcane or 
complicated that it requires a specialist to maintain it. Its about 400 
lines, including blank lines and doc strings, with a single class and 
around twenty methods.

Wasn't one of the major reasons for moving to git and Github to 
make it easier for non-core devs to contribute? A module as stable and 
simple as cmd seems to me to be the ideal place for people to begin 
contributing, whether it is fixing bugs or contributing any 
(hypothetical) feature enhancements.

I don't think we need do anything here: so long as there is a core 
developer willing to review any PRs, and so long as new enhancements go 
through the same approval process on the bug tracker and/or Python- 
Ideas, I don't think we need to single cmd out as deprecated or "no new 
features".

This isn't gopher, or something with serious unfixable security 
vulnerabilities. It works. What more needs to be said?



-- 
Steve