[IPython-dev] pydb 1.19 released, thoughts about integration

[Fernando Perez]

Just to fill in a little...

On 10/26/06, R. Bernstein <rocky at panix.com> wrote:
> As requested and promised, a new version of pydb (1.19) has been
> released, and this release has the patches to make it more ipython
> friendly. (It also has other accumulated improvements requested too.)
>
> I'd like to possibly reiterate some thoughts about ipython/pydb
> integration and possibly go further.
>
> To date, what I've noticed is that things are a bit more complicated
> in ipython because it took the necessary stance that the debugger
> interfaces/API couldn't be changed. I think things could be simplified
> by working across these two programs.
>
> But, at least on the pydb side, the resources to work on this are
> limited. So limiting initial exposure is perhaps a good
> thing. Therefore to get the *full* benefit of what's there, you need
> Python 2.5 and pydb 1.19 (and of course a future ipython
> release). Older versions of python could be accomodated depending on
> how much crud one wanted to add to ipython.

We'll certainly be supporting 2.4 for quite a while.  There is
currently not one single *nix distro (counting Apple OSX as one) that
defaults to Python 2.5, not even the fresh-off-the-oven Fedora Core 6
and Ubuntu Edgy Eft, both released in the last 72 hours.  These still
use 2.4.x (x=3 for FC6 and x=4c1 for Edgy Eft, which I installed
yesterday).

And Ubuntu Dapper, bound to have a long life in research labs (due to
its long term support) uses 2.4, so for now we'll keep 2.4 as a
requirement.  Right now, making code be 2.5-only would alienate a
pretty large fraction of ipython's user base,  I suspect (including a
user I consider particularly important: me ;)

> But what are plans in the chainsaw branch? I see what looks to me
> really ugly code in "run -d". Is that code going to be in the chainsaw
> branch as well?. Is the chainsaw branch going to support older
> versions of Python which require duplicating code from say pdb?

The chainsaw branch will eventually offer all of the normal ipython
functionality, including magic support.  But hopefully we'll have a
much cleaner infrastructure in place to do so.  Much of the code in
some of the bigger magics (%run and %edit are the worse) grew simply
by historical accretion, and is one big spaghetti mess in bad need of
a cleanup.

And thanks for this release!

Cheers,

f