[stdlib-sig] Breaking out the stdlib

[Michael Foord]

Antoine Pitrou wrote:
> [snip...]
> For example, Michael's work on unittest (a work of evolutionary changes)
> is much better news, IMO, that someone proposing to include nose in the
> stdlib. And I say that as a nose user. I don't want to maintain nose in
> the stdlib.
>   

Evolving an existing library, as a rule, is definitely better than 
replacing it with a new one. There is a cost involved in removing a 
library. It isn't always possible though to meet requirements with an 
existing API - as is the case with optparse / argparse.

>   
>>  "Best" comes with baggage: it means that other solutions are
>> worse, and it admits the possibility that other code will someday
>> overtake the current solution to *become* best-of-breed.
>>     
>
> Of course. But it is also a double-sided argument because, if each new
> package remains the best-of-breed during only 2 years after it is
> integrated into the stdlib, we will spend a lot of time considering new
> packages for inclusion, deprecating other ones, and ultimately confusing
> the hell of our users.
>   

The bar for including a module in the standard library is high (which is 
where the best of breed requirement comes from) because *we* do commit 
to maintain it. That doesn't mean we commit to maintaining things 
forever though (at least I can't find that promise in the documentation 
anywhere...).

Flipping modules every two years would of course be ridiculous - but we 
still don't guarantee that any module will remain forever.

I don't think I would go as far as Collin hinted (without necessarily 
meaning anything so radical) in maintaining the standard library as a 
constantly changing "current best of breed", but I agree with his other 
sentiments.

Michael


> Regards
>
> Antoine.
>
>
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