[stdlib-sig] Breaking out the stdlib

[Antoine Pitrou]

Le mardi 15 septembre 2009 à 11:57 +0300, Orestis Markou a écrit :
> 
> When a new version of Python comes out, people *do* have to  
> spend some time testing their apps, so if something has moved from  
> stdlib to stdlib-legacy, they can just install that in their site  
> packages and go on pretending nothing happened.

Who is "people" in that sentence?
It can be developers. But some applications or scripts have been
developed years ago, by someone who isn't there to maintain them
anymore.
It can be users. But it is unreasonable (and quite rude) to expect users
to fix compatibility problems by themselves.
(do you think the average user knows what a "site packages" is?)

There is the ideal world where every Python program (script,
application, library, etc.) has a dedicated and active maintainer and
regular releases to keep up-to-date with the state of the Python
ecosystem. It is also the visible part of the iceberg (PyPI, Linux
distros etc.), which is why some people assume it accurately describes
reality.

There is the real world where many programs are one-off solutions to
specific problems, coded years ago, not maintained anymore because the
coder has left for another place, and the users don't know Python.