[Python-3000] dbm package creation

[Georg Brandl]

Guido van Rossum schrieb:
> On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 3:08 PM, Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:
>> On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 12:21 PM, Georg Brandl <g.brandl at gmx.net> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'll handle the PEP 3108 dbm package if nobody else is already at it.
>>>
>>
>> I know I have not started the work.
>>
>>> Two questions though:
>>>
>>> * the whichdb() function returns strings that are module names.  These
>>>  names won't be importable anymore in 3k.  Should the return values
>>>  remain the same in 3k, or should whichdb() return the new names, and
>>>  if the latter, including "dbm." or not?
>>>
>>
>> New names with the package name prepended.
>>
>> Should probably change the API at some point to just return the module
>> to use instead of the name.
> 
> I'm not sure I disagree. I see the return value as an enum, only one
> use for which is to import it. (If you wanted to just use the module,
> why not use anydbm?) I'd prefer to keep the return strings the same
> (no 'dbm.' prefix) and fix the code that uses whichdb.

So add a mapping to dbm.__init__ that maps old names to new names?

> Or is there an expected future use case where the returned value would
> be something in a *different* package?

There was in the past, with the now-defunct bsddb185 module which was
not used by anydbm.

> Returning a module object would seem the least attractive version --
> that would require importing the module, which may not be in the
> caller's plan at all.

It may not be, but the modules are imported anyway during import of
dbm.__init__ (which contains whichdb() now.)

Georg