Python Packages : A looming problem? packages might no longer work? (well not on your platform or python version anyway)

[David Stanek]

On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:39 PM, David Lyon <david.lyon at preisshare.net> wrote:
> Hi David,
>
>
>
> Yes, I agree...
>
> But as an end-application-developer, I would put it to you that it is a lot
> of effort for developers to humanly contact the package developers every
> time we end-developers find a bug.
> The task (for us developers) involves:
>
> finding the project page for the project...
> finding their tracking system..
> sometimes finding the project is abandoned
> entering the bug
> waiting a few days
>

If they took the time to find the package, install the package and
learn to use it then they can file a bug report. And if it is on a
platform that I don't have access to who will submit the patch?

> Given that Python 3 is now on its way....
>
> It strikes me that are a lot of packages that are about to break.....
>

I think it is safe to assume that if the package maintainer didn't
port to Python 3 that it won't work.

> What I am talking about (regression testing) already exists in the Perl
> world..
>
> So I am hoping to have at least the same in the Python Universe....
>
> It seems to me that from your perspective there would be no change? just
>
> bug reports coming sooner, rather than later.
>

Not really. If you are running my unit tests then you have a 50/50
chance of finding a bug. The path bug I mentioned earlier would not
have been found on Windows by running my tests. It would, however,
been caught by real usage.


-- 
David
blog: http://www.traceback.org
twitter: http://twitter.com/dstanek