python-dev Summary for 2003-06-01 through 2003-06-30
Brett C.
bac at OCF.Berkeley.EDU
Wed Jul 9 18:14:29 EDT 2003
python-dev Summary for 2003-06-01 through 2003-06-30
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a summary of traffic on the `python-dev mailing list`_ from June
1, 2003 through June 30, 2003. It is intended to inform the wider
Python community of on-going developments on the list and to have an
archived summary of each thread started on the list. To comment on
anything mentioned here, just post to python-list at python.org or
`comp.lang.python`_ with a subject line mentioning what you are
discussing. All python-dev members are interested in seeing ideas
discussed by the community, so don't hesitate to take a stance on
something. And if all of this really interests you then get involved
and join `python-dev`_!
This is the eighteenth/nineteenth summary written by Brett Cannon (has
his own room with a door for the first time in his life).
All summaries are archived at http://www.python.org/dev/summary/ .
Please note that this summary is written using reStructuredText_ which
can be found at http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html . Any unfamiliar
punctuation is probably markup for reST_ (otherwise it is probably
regular expression syntax or a typo =); you can safely ignore it,
although I suggest learning reST; its simple and is accepted for `PEP
markup`_. Also, because of the wonders of programs that like to
reformat text, I cannot guarantee you will be able to run the text
version of this summary through Docutils_ as-is unless it is from the
original text file.
.. _PEP Markup: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0012.html
The in-development version of the documentation for Python can be found
at http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/ and should be used when wanting
to look up any documentation on something mentioned here. Python PEPs
(Python Enhancement Proposals) are located at
http://www.python.org/peps/ . To view files in the Python CVS online,
go to http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/ .
.. _python-dev: http://www.python.org/dev/
.. _python-dev mailing list:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
.. _comp.lang.python: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.lang.python
.. _Docutils: http://docutils.sf.net/
.. _reST:
.. _reStructuredText: http://docutils.sf.net/rst.html
.. contents::
.. _last summary:
http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2003-05-16_2003-05-31.html
=====================
Summary Announcements
=====================
I lost Internet on the morning of June 18 and did not regain it until
June 29. Since it was so close to the end of the month I decided to
just combine the next summary into this month-long summary.
During my Internet blackout that reminded me of the days back when I
spent my days playing video games and watching television, my future
life as a graduate student began to form. Since I am going to have the
joy of taking three upper-division undergraduate courses this upcoming
fall semester I don't think I am going to have the time to do the
summaries when school starts, at least in the capacity I am doing them
currently.
At minimum I suspect I will have to cut back on the depth of them since
I refuse to put the summaries before hacking on the core (hacking is
more fun and I would like to think I can contribute more to Python that
way). If you want this job I will be willing to give it up starting in
September (I want a full year's worth of summaries behind me before I am
willing to pass the torch). But if no one takes it I can probably
continue to do them in a rather informal way by summarizing only big
threads that I find interesting until someone steps forward to do a
good, thorough job.
If you *really* want to do the summaries at the same level of depth as I
am currently doing them and are interested in taking over starting in
September, give me an email at brett at python.org .
================================================
`Descriptor write-up [Draft: Please comment]`__
================================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035922.html
Related threads:
- `Descriptor write-up [second draft]`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035936.html
Raymond Hettinger has written an paper on descriptors covering what they
are to how to write your own. Since not only are properties class
methods, static methods, and 'super' object descriptors (more on the
last one later on in this summary) but descriptors are used throughout
Python now to create bound objects for functions, methods, etc.
It would behoove all serious Python programmers to read
http://users.rcn.com/python/download/Descriptor.htm .
======================================
`Where to put the interrupt module?`__
======================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036265.html
Not earth-shattering, but to make sure that people know when new things
are added to the stdlib I figured I should make this thread have a
full-blown summary.
Thanks to the development work on IDLEfork_, a new function in the
thread module called interrupt_main has been added. It raises
KeyboardInterrupt in the main thread of a program. The reason the
exception is KeyboardInterrupt and not some new exception is because
KeyboardInterrupt is the only asynchronous error in Python.
There was discussion of making it much more general, which led to the
PyThreadState_SetAsyncState API that allows the raising of an exception
in another thread.
.. _IDLEfork: http://idlefork.sf.net/
==========================================
`Can't compile _tkinter.c with Redhat 9`__
==========================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036277.html
`Red Hat`_, apparently, modified their distribution of Tcl_ so as to
support `UCS-4`_ text encoding so that their distribution of Python 2.2
could be compiled with UCS-4 support. Problem is that this does not
allow Python to compile with UCS-2 support; you **have** to compile with
UCS-4 support and not UCS-2 under Red Hat 9 with their custom version of
Tcl.
Thanks to Martin v. Löwis, 2.3 has been modified so that Python compiled
in either UCS-4 or UCS-2 will work with standard Tcl which is UCS-2
natively.
.. _Red Hat: http://www.redhat.com/
.. _Tcl: http://www.tcl.tk/
.. _UCS-4: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCS-4
===========
`PEP-317`__
===========
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036027.html
Splintered threads:
- `Exception masking/chaining`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036070.html
A discussion of PEP 317 broke out on python-dev. You can read the PEP
for details but it advocated removing string exceptions (they are going
to be gone in Python 3) and implicit exception instantiation (that is
not changing). The PEP was eventually rejected and has the details of
why it was rejected in the end.
Part of this discussion forked off to discuss exception masking. The
idea came up that it might be nice for an exception to keep a reference
to a previous exception that was still uncaught at that point. An
example is an exception in the function passed to map; the function gets
returned without knowing that it was in map. Masking it wouldn't work
though since you then wouldn't know about the error in the function
itself. But if there was a way to raise an exception from map that
reference the original exception from the function then no information
would be lost. Chaining the exceptions together would most likely just
be sticking the previous exception in an attribute of the new one. This
was all originally discussed `in January
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-January/032492.html>`__
and `February
<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-February/032864.html>`__
of this year.
There was also discussion of adding the traceback for an exception as an
attribute of the exception. This would make getting respective
tracebacks easier period but also easier if exception chaining was
implemented. The traceback would most likely be attached to the
exception when it is caught and not at instantiation.
Both of these ideas are just that, ideas. They most likely won't occur
until exceptions are moved over to new-style classes which probably
won't be for a while.
===========================
`towards a faster Python`__
===========================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036059.html
Related threads:
- `problem with assignment shadows builtin warning`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036422.html
A new warning has been added to Python for when you inject an attribute
into a module to shadows a built-in::
import os
os.open = 42
This is in hopes of making this kind of thing illegal so as to allow the
bytecode to be optimized for accessing built-ins. It also led to
package imports, such as ``import A.B.C`` to work directly on the
namespace dict instead of doing essentially ``setattr(A, 'B', A.B);
setattr(A.B, 'C', A.B.C)``.
============================
`Sneaky 'super' instances`__
============================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036155.html
Splinter threads:
- `PEP 246 and Protocols`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036235.html
Discovering that an instance to the 'super' type is both an instance of
a class *and* a non-data descriptor was causing issues for pydoc and
inspect led to the question of whether there was any definitive way to
tell whether an object was an instance of a class defined by using the
'class' statement in Python. It turns out there is: if
object.__class__.__flags__ >> 9 & 1 is 1 (which is the
Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE in C) *and* its metaclass is or a subclass of type.
This then spawned a discussion about protocols and interfaces (which was
discussed once way back when under the title `type categories`_) since
protocols could supposedly allow one to define a protocol for what makes
up a 'super' instance. None of this will get into the language (if it
ever gets in) until Guido can really think it through and that will be a
while.
.. _type categories:
===================================
`Details on Python shutting down`__
===================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036386.html
What happens while Python is shutting down? Well, it calls Py_Finalize
in Python/pythonrun.c . This means that signals are turned off,
gc.collect is called, calls PyImport_Cleanup in Python/import.c, and
then calls. gc.collect one more time.
PyImport_Cleanup is where modules are torn down. __main__ is deleted,
then everything but sys and __builtin__, and then sys and __builtin__
(in that order). Now "deletion" as mentioned he is setting the module
to None in sys.modules, setting all names starting with a single
underscore to None in the module, and then all others sans __builtins__ .
This is why when you define a __del__ method you need to make sure that
all things referenced in it are local; global names in the module will
have been set to None by the time the code is called if the object is
collected during shutdown and raise an exception.
==================================================================
`Re: [Python-checkins] python/dist/src/Objectslistobject.c,2.15`__
==================================================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036445.html
list.index now has optional start and end arguments.
==========================
`RELEASED: Python 2.3b2`__
==========================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036623.html
Related threads:
- `2.3b2 this weekend`__
- `Python 2.3b2 branch tag created`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036596.html
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036614.html
Title says it all. Big thing with this beta release is the new version
of IDLE. As with all betas, please download it and give it a whirl to
try to shake out any bugs that need fixing *ASAP*; we are going to aim
for an August 1 release date for final thanks to Apple planning to
incorporate Python 2.3 into Panther_.
.. _Panther: http://www.apple.com/macosx/panther/
=============================================
`Re: Activating `-i' from inside a script?`__
=============================================
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036579.html
Related threads:
- `Delayed `-i'! :-)`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036636.html
Thanks to Skip Montanaro and someone curious at comp.lang.python_ you
can now set the PYTHONINSPECT environment variable to something and then
be started into an interactive interpreter if an exception propagates
all the way to the end of a program without being caught.
========
Quickies
========
Weekly Python Bug/Patch Summary
-------------------------------
- `2003-06-01`__
- `2003-06-08`__
- `2003-06-15`__
- `2003-06-22`__
- `2003-06-29`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035926.html
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036021.html
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036364.html
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036525.html
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036610.html
`BaseHTTPServer parsing`__
---------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035948.html
Code marked as internal to a module in the stdlib means you should not
directly reference it in your code lest you are willing to deal with
possible future breakage when a refactoring of that module is done.
`popen2.py strangeness`__
-------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035955.html
A race condition in popen2 was found and fixed in 2.3 but was not solved
in time for 2.2.3 . It has been marked for backporting for 2.2.4 .
`timsort?`__
------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035958.html
The new sorting algorithm for lists (known affectionately as "timsort"
since Tim Peters wrote that tricky piece of code) is a 2.3 feature. But
if you would like it for older versions of Python you can get it from
http://py-stablesort.sourceforge.net/ .
`Mundane dict __setitem__...`__
-------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035970.html
The hash value for an object in a dictionary is not guaranteed to be
done based on identity; having two names set to equal tuples and used as
keys will overwrite each other.
`Meaning of trailing comma?`__
------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035990.html
Improper for python-dev, but Michael Chermside was nice enough to answer
the question nonetheless.
`test_strptime failed`__
------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035995.html
A failing test was reported. Follow-up on the thread is still pending.
`IDLEfork Re-integration into Python`__
---------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/035994.html
The new version of IDLE (being developed by the `IDLEfork`_ team) is
going to be kept in Lib/idlelib/ .
`On Syntax Extensibility (again)`__
-----------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036002.html
Samuele Pedroni's thoughts on blocks (like thunks) in Python. This goes
way back to the `2003-02-01 summary`_ and the `thunks
<http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2003-02-01_2003-02-15.html#thunks>`__
summary.
.. _2003-02-01 summary:
http://www.python.org/dev/summary/2003-02-01_2003-02-15.html
`The Python interpreter is not fully thread-safe.`__
----------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036004.html
It is going to be added to the documentation for threading in the Python
core that it does not support free threading. For those of you who
aren't familiar with what free threading is (it apparently comes from
the Windows programming world), it means that something can be called at
any time from any thread. In other words it is thread-safe without
requiring any special API.
`urllib2 proxy support broken?`__
---------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036005.html
This was initially covered in the `last summary`_.
The broken proxy support in urllib2 has been fixed.
`Re: [Python-checkins] python/dist/src/Lib pprint.py`__...
-----------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036008.html
A patch applied to pprint to try to notice if a type's __repr__ had
changed was backed out.
`mimetypes.guess_all_extensions()`__
------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036076.html
Now returns the empty list when there are no matching extensions.
`[OT] Thank you, python-dev`__
------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036083.html
An email from me to python-dev thanking the list for everything they
have done since it helped get me into grad school.
`Re: [DB-SIG] API suggestion: expose 'quote' method`__
------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036108.html
Email about adding an optional quote function to the Python `DB-API`_ spec.
.. _DB-API: http://www.python.org/topics/database/
`Updated 2.3 Release Schedule`__
--------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036163.html
Don't expect 2.3 final to be released until some time after OSCON (it
ends on July 11).
`cPickle coredump with 2.3/cvs`__
---------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036187.html
Someone was having core dump on them thanks to cPickle, but with no one
else able to reproduce the problem so it's up to the OP to help solve
this one.
`Patch to remove eval from csv sniffer`__
-----------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036203.html
A patch for the new csv package was questioned since 2.3 is in beta.
Guido gave the clear, though, since the chances of people's code being
dependent on the package were negligible.
`Proposal to drop f_tstate`__
-----------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036204.html
A misunderstanding on the use of the f_tstate value in frames in C code.
`Caching of builtins and globals in action`__
---------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036228.html
Samuele Pedroni playing with caching accesses to globals and built-ins.
`Two useful patches involving tracebacks`__
-------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036230.html
After discussing a useful patch, the idea of refactoring the cgitb and
traceback module for 2.4 came up and seemed to be agreed upon to be a
good idea.
`PEP-311 operational?`__
------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036282.html
Someone asking if PEP 311 has been applied.
`Can we switch different "byte code interpreters"?`__
-----------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036105.html
Answer: no.
Lesson learned: when you want to start a new thread do not piggyback on
an existing one unless it is somehow related.
`Sporadic test failures in Lib/test/test_mimetools.py`__
--------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036299.html
When writing tests that base results on the time difference between time
measurements you *must* make sure that the difference is big enough to
be noticed by a platforms time.time function (Windows only measures 18.2
times a second).
`porting problems`__
--------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036308.html
Someone has gotten Python to run on an XBox and GameCube. =)
`Python language standard; LSB`__
---------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036325.html
Python has no "standard"; CPython is as close as you are going to get.
`VC 7.1 compiler for key developers - last call!`__
---------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036339.html
Guido asked for key developers who wanted a free copy of VC 7.1 to speak up.
`PEP280 and my experiment`__
----------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036356.html
Taking cues from PEP 280, Samuele Pedroni experimented with caching
access to builtins and globals and got about a 15% increase.
`On the possibility of "optimizing" range() calls in for-loops`__
-----------------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036358.html
The idea of optimizing the bytecode for calls to range in 'for' loops is
still being thrown around. Alex Martelli, though, pointed out that if
you just need to do something a set number of times nothing beats
itertools.repeat .
`Changes to IDLE`__
-------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036366.html
All new bugs and patches in regards to IDLE should go into the Python
tracker.
`zipfile.py (SF #755031)`__
---------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036372.html
A bug with zipfile was found and subsequently patched.
`New PEP: 319`__
----------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036387.html
A new PEP on adding a keyword for synchronizing code has been put online.
`Py2.3 Todo List`__
-------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036453.html
Related threads:
- `More work on SRE`__
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036520.html
Essentially a discussion as to whether to apply Gustavo Niemeyer's patch
to remove the recursion limit from the re module and to add
sys.(get|set)defaultsourceencoding functions. The former is in (with
help of a coverage tool that comes with gcc and is talked about at
https://moin.conectiva.com.br/GustavoNiemeyer/2003-06-19 ) and the
latter had new tests added but won't have the code removing recursion
limits applied until after 2.3.
.. _EuroPython: http://www.europython.org/
`Handler.setLevel()`__
----------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036466.html
Misunderstanding over how the method worked.
`No Net at home`__
------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036485.html
I lost Internet, as you probably know from the `Summary Announcements`_
section, on June 18 and didn't get it back until June 29.
`SF CVS hosed?`__
-----------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036489.html
Usual issues with cvs. Some talk about Subversion_.
.. _Subversion: http://subversion.tigris.org/
`curses module has_key emulation`__
-----------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036501.html
Problem with curses was found and a proposed patch at
http://www.python.org/sf/759208 has been created.
`A vote against dict(keyword=value) sugar`__...
-----------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036502.html
What the subject says.
`Python on dual-processor Macs?`__
----------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036530.html
Greg Ewing was worried about a bug he heard about on dual-processor
Macs. Jack Jansen said it was solved, though.
`Patch 595601`__
-----------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036537.html
A race condition with files and closing/reading is being worked on at
http://www.python.org/sf/595601 .
`cookie support for FancyURLopener?`__
--------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036553.html
Someone asking if a certain feature was under development.
`proposed Tkinter change; any likelihood of acceptance?`__
----------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036555.html
Not for 2.3.0, but maybe for 2.4 or 2.3.1 .
`Python hash function`__
------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036556.html
Damien Morton continues to try to speed up Python, this time by trying
to speed up the hashing of strings.
`Py2.1`__
---------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036564.html
Backporting a fix all the way to Python 2.1 is only needed if it is
really critical.
`deprecate dbm module & add bsddb185 module for 2.2`__
------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036569.html
"No" and probably "if you put the effort into it yourself".
`OSCON Lightning Talk Proposals still being accepted`__
-------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036574.html
If you want to give a lightning talk at OSCON_, read this email.
.. _OSCON: http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/
`Yet more SRE`__
----------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036575.html
Gustavo Niemeyer fiddles with the re module some more.
`Python 2.3b1, distutils and PEP 263`__
---------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036577.html
Bug in Distutils is squashed involving the shebang line.
`test_copy_reg failing in 2.3 CVS`__
------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036582.html
Dealt with by a comment.
`socket timeouts and httplib`__
-------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036587.html
Dealt with by adding a specific exception for timeouts.
`Embedding Python, threading and scalability`__
-----------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036589.html
David Abrahams redirecting a question to python-dev.
`[ANN] SciPy '03 -- The 2nd Annual Python for Scientific Computing
Workshop`__
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036591.html
Title says it all.
`Proposed DNS query library`__
------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036604.html
Take a look at dnspython_ if you need DNS stuff.
.. _dnspython: http://www.dnspython.org
`Problems in stdlib before 2.3b2`__
-----------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036606.html
They are being/have been dealt with.
`Running tests on freebsd5`__
-----------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036611.html
...had two failures. They are being worked on.
`threads duplicated on fork() prevent child from terminating properly`__
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036619.html
Person was told to file a bug report.
`Meaty debugging mystery`__
---------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036627.html
... which Martin v. Löwis figured out the basic cause although how it is
happening is still unknown.
`2.3b2 known bugs?`__
---------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036632.html
The bugs listed previously at http://www.python.org/2.3/bugs.html have
been fixed but two new ones take their place.
`Problem with 2.3b2 tarfile?`__
-------------------------------
__ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2003-June/036637.html
Solaris tar was choking on a *really* long pathname in the stdlib. The
pathname will most likely end up being changed to be under 100
characters so as to meet the POSIX tarfile format specification.
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