[Python-ideas] A python bridge between versions

[Chris Angelico]

On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 4:53 PM, ian o <ian.team.python at gmail.com> wrote:
> A bridge like this would allow us to move now, and that would allow pressure
> on the module providers.

Think about what the bridge really means. It means that you move now,
yes, but it also means that the existing module is working fine. That
means there is *no* pressure on the module provider. The pain of
maintaining the bridge is all yours. You want to put pressure on the
module provider? *Don't* have the bridge. Then you have an incentive
to get that module ported, because then you could migrate. Maybe that
means you lean on the developers; maybe that means you run the code
through 2to3 and then start dealing with test suite failures, and then
submit the code back to them and say "Here's Python 3.3 support, these
are the downsides, will you accept it?". That's the sort of pressure
that's likely to work. Saying "Hey, we can use your module in Python 3
now, thanks to a Python-in-C-in-Python bridge" will evoke the response
"Okay fine, no problem then!".

ChrisA