[python-committers] Providing .tgz sources

[Brett Cannon]

On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 22:24, Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> On 12/5/2010 10:11 PM, Brett Cannon wrote:
>> On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 13:06, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
>>>> Well, is it more popular because that is just what people are used to
>>>> downloading or the first download link on the web page? Or is it
>>>> because people fundamentally prefer tgz files over tar.bz2?
>>>
>>> These questions are difficult to answer with the download stats alone.
>>> If you really want to know, we should setup a poll...
>>
>> I could if people care, but I don't anyone does.
>>
>>>
>>>> Are there
>>>> actual platforms that can't handle tar.bz2 but can handle tgz?
>>>
>>> That, in turn, is easy to answer: yes, there are. Certain Solaris
>>> releases had gzip available (even though /usr/bin/tar wouldn't know
>>> how to invoke it), but no bzip2 utility.
>>
>> If these are Solaris platforms we support then that's fine and we
>> should keep tgz files, but if these are platforms we no longer care
>> about then I say the lives of release managers should be simplified by
>> cutting tgz files.
>>
>>>
>>>> I'm
>>>> willing to bet it's because of the download link order and has nothing
>>>> to do with actual preference (especially since we don't state file
>>>> size on the download page).
>>>
>>> Not sure what page you are looking at; on
>>>
>>> http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/
>>>
>>> we do.
>>
>> I was actually looking at that page, but the size specifics are below
>> the download links and are only noticeable if you scroll far enough
>> down. I doubt I am the only person who has made that mistake.
>>
>> -Brett
>>
>>>
>>>> Personally I don't know why we have both tgz and tar.bz2 other than
>>>> tradition. I say trim it down to tar.bz2 for portability and move on
>>>> to using a ustar-based tar.xz to be cutting edge and minimize download
>>>> size overall while making it the first download option to make sure
>>>> people notice it. I'd also vote for listing the file size on the
>>>> download page, but that's just another step for release managers that
>>>> I don't want to burden them with.
>>>
>>> You would also need to specify what page you refer to as "the download
>>> page".
>>>
> Surely this is all bike shedding.

I don't think so when we are trying to make getting a new release
easier w.r.t. smaller source download.

> Will anyone fail to download Python
> because we don't offer a .xz foramt download? I sincerely doubt it.

I do as well.

> So
> what do we gain by such an addition to compensate for the increasing
> complexity to be faced during releases?

It only increases complexity if we don't cut one of the tar.bz2 or tgz
source releases. But by offering a a tar.xz file we can give people a
smaller download which saves everyone time and bandwidth which can
matter if the downloader's Internet connection is slow and/or costly.

-Brett

>
> regards
>  Steve
> --
> Steve Holden           +1 571 484 6266   +1 800 494 3119
> PyCon 2011 Atlanta March 9-17       http://us.pycon.org/
> See Python Video!       http://python.mirocommunity.org/
> Holden Web LLC                 http://www.holdenweb.com/
>