[Python-Dev] Inclusion of lz4 bindings in stdlib?

Toshio Kuratomi a.badger at gmail.com
Thu Nov 29 10:10:53 EST 2018


On Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 6:56 AM Benjamin Peterson <benjamin at python.org wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Nov 28, 2018, at 15:27, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 10:43:04AM -0800, Gregory P. Smith wrote:
> >
> > > PyPI makes getting more algorithms easy.
> >
> > Can we please stop over-generalising like this? PyPI makes getting
> > more algorithms easy for *SOME* people. (Sorry for shouting, but you
> > just pressed one of my buttons.)
> >
> > PyPI might as well not exist for those who cannot, for technical or
> > policy reasons, install addition software beyond the std lib on the
> > computers they use. (I hesitate to say "their computers".)
> >
> > In many school or corporate networks, installing unapproved software can
> > get you expelled or fired. And getting approval may be effectively
> > impossible, or take months of considerable effort navigating some
> > complex bureaucratic process.
> >
> > This is not an argument either for or against adding LZ4, I have no
> > opinion either way. But it is a reminder that "just get it from PyPI"
> > represents an extremely privileged position that not all Python users
> > are capable of taking, and we shouldn't be so blase about abandoning
> > those who can't to future std lib improvements.
>
> While I'm sympathetic to users in such situations, I'm not sure how much
> we can really help them. These are the sorts of users who are likely to
> still be stuck using Python 2.6. Any stdlib improvements we discuss and
> implement today are easily a decade away from benefiting users in
> restrictive environments. On that kind of timescale, it's very hard to know
> what to do, especially since, as Paul says, we don't hear much feedback
> from such users.
>

As a developer of software that has to run in such environments, having a
library be in the stdlib is helpful as it is easier to convince the rest of
the team to bundle a backport of something that's in a future stdlib than a
random package from pypi.  Stdlib inclusion gives the library a known
future and a (perhaps illusory, perhaps real) blessing from the core devs
that helps to sell the library as the preferred solution.

-Toshio

>
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