PEP 3147 - new .pyc format

[John Roth]

PEP 3147 has just been posted, proposing that, beginning in release
3.2 (and possibly 2.7) compiled .pyc and .pyo files be placed in a
directory with a .pyr extension. The reason is so that compiled
versions of a program can coexist, which isn't possible now.

Frankly, I think this is a really good idea, although I've got a few
comments.

1. Apple's MAC OS X should be mentioned, since 10.5 (and presumably
10.6) ship with both Python release 2.3 and 2.5 installed.

2. I think the proposed logic is too complex. If this is installed in
3.2, then that release should simply store its .pyc file in the .pyr
directory, without the need for either a command line switch or an
environment variable (both are mentioned in the PEP.)

3. Tool support. There are tools that look for the .pyc files; these
need to be upgraded somehow. The ones that ship with Python should, of
course, be fixed with the PEP, but there are others.

4. I'm in favor of putting the source in the .pyr directory as well,
but that's got a couple more issues. One is tool support, which is
likely to be worse for source, and the other is some kind of algorithm
for identifying which source goes with which object.

Summary: I like it, but I think it needs a bit more work.

John Roth