Inconsistencies between zipfile and tarfile APIs

[Ned Deily]

In article <j0cjaf$mum$1 at dough.gmane.org>,
 Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
> This introduced the problem that upgrading to Python 3 is no longer a 
> single thing. We really need 2to3.1 (the current 2to3), 2to3.2, 2to3.3, 
> etc, but someone would have to make the new versions, but no one, 
> currently, has the energy and interest to do that. So people who did not 
> port their 2.x code early now use the problem of multiple Python 3 
> targets as another excuse not to do so now. (Actually, most 2.x code 
> should not be ported, but their are more libraries that we do need in 3.x.)

I don't quite understand this.  Since 2to3 is included with Python 3, 
there are, in fact, separate releases of 2to3 for each release of Python 
3 so far.  And, unlike with Python 2 with a large installed base across 
a number of versions, Python 3 version support can be and is much more 
focused now in its early releases.  Support for 3.0 was terminated 
immediately upon release of 3.1.  And 3.1 is now in security-fix mode 
only.  So, except for a brief overlap after the initial release of 3.2, 
there has only been one Python 3 release that needs to be targeted.  Of 
course, that will change over time as adoption continues and mainstream 
OS's include specific Python 3 releases.  But, for now, it's easy: just 
target the most recent Python 3 release, currently 3.2.1.  Don't worry 
about earlier releases.

-- 
 Ned Deily,
 nad at acm.org