I think this is an issue that the svn devs need to discuss: what
Python versions are required, expected, and supported.
I'm going to throw out a strawman here for discussion.
End-users
- Python is not required to use "core" svn
- Python scripts that are part of our distribution bundle
- Minimum: 2.4
- Supported: 2.x
- Possible for some scripts: 3.0
Packagers
- Python is not required
Developers
- Python is required: gen-make, test suite, dist packaging, etc
- Minimum: 2.4
- Supported: 2.x
There are two primary goals with my selections above:
- Support end-user choices
- Reduce maintenance costs
It would be nice to support end-user scripts < 2.4, but that increases
maintenance costs for us. I believe that 2.4 is a fair balance between
user choice and our cost. During the 1.6 release process, we ended up
bumping the minimum user version to 2.4. That happened without
explicit discussion, so I'm bringing it up for closure on whether that
is what we're going to shoot for.
Also note that Python 3.0 is *not* part of the Developer toolset. Not
even supported. I've been reviewing the changes on trunk for the 3.0
compatibility effort with increasing concern. The changes introduce
maintenance cost (*), yet with no perceivable benefit to the Developer
community. If we confine our support to 2.x, then the dev toolset will
be easier to expand, modify, and refine.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
-g
(*) where "cost" means awareness and coding specifically for: variant
imports, byte/string/unicode/encode/decide changes, syntax concerns,
builtin function changes, special methods, etc.
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http://subversion.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=462&dsMessageId=1562312
Received on 2009-04-06 17:02:17 CEST