ethical questions about global variables

[Giampaolo Rodola']

Hi,
in a module of mine (ftpserver.py) I'd want to add a (boolean) global
variable named "use_gmt_times" to decide whether the server has to
return times in GMT or localtime but I'm not sure if it is a good idea
because of the "ethical" doubts I'm gonna write below.

In first place I've never liked global variables too much and always
preferred per-class-instance variables instead.
The problem in my case is that I have to use such variable in two
separated classes: FTPHandler and VirtualFileSystem. Also, I want that
for no reason one class uses times in GMT and the other one local
times.

Another doubt is the naming convention. PEP-8 states that global
variables should use the lower_case_naming_convention but I've seen a
lot of library module using the UPPER_CASE_NAMING_CONVENTION. What am
I supposed to do about it?

Thanks in advance for any comment.


--- Giampaolo
http://code.google.com/p/pyftpdlib/