[Python-Dev] Python 1.6 timing

[Guido van Rossum]

(I accidentally mailed this only to Greg; here's a repost of the
relevant parts to the list:)

[me]
> > Good questions.  I have to say that I feel reluctant to release any
> > kind of control -- yet at the same time I desperately need help
> > getting trivial stuff checked in.

[Greg Stein]
> Reading your comments below, we may be able to help.

[...Proposal of lieutenants condensed...]

> Based on my responses, I would venture to state that a group of LTs would
> manage to keep the Python core rock solid, except for:
> 
> 1) subtle breakages that require your broader knowledge of Python
> 2) changes that "go against the plan" (and the LTs were ignorant of it)
> 3) minor format issues
> 
> You would still review checkins, but the number of reviews would drop
> since the (obvious) crap has been eliminated. #1 is based on your *broad*
> knowledge of Python; I presume the LTs would be your match on various
> subsets of Python. By keeping the LTs well-informed, #2 could be nearly
> eliminated. #3 isn't that big of a deal, as I think your desired style is
> relatively well-known and the LTs would simply endeavor to match existing
> style.
> 
> You could avoid a lot of testing; you would probably be inclined to do
> testing of items that you find dubious, but still this would be a
> reduction.
> 
> =====
> 
> That may be an answer to the checkin problem. How about actual snapshots,
> alphas, betas, releases, and accompanying notes/news/readme files? I
> presume your LTs could run the alpha and beta aspects, but you would still
> issue final releases.

There's a lot of work in these (you may have noticed that the release
notes got sloppier as 1.5.2 neared its completion).

I would be happy to have the responsibility to decide to release
without the burden of having to do all the work.

> Does your mail volume need to be reduced? (I think this has been asked
> before) Specifically, would patches@python.org (and similar targets) need
> to be established? (I would think so, as a matter of course, with the
> expectation that some patches would still end up with you and need to be
> bounced to patches@)

It's not the mail volume that bothers me -- I can ignore 100s of
messages a day very quickly.  It's the time it takes to respond to all
of them.


As an experiment, I've collected about 40 messages with suggested
patches in them that I found in my inbox; the oldest are nearly two
years old.

You can access these from this address:

http://www.python.org/~guido/patch/

I would love any help I could get in responding with these, and taking
action in the form of patches.  I propose that if you decide that a
particular patch is worth checking in, you ask the author for the
bugrelease or wetsign disclaimer and let me know that I can check it
in; if changes to the patch are needed, I propose that you negotiate
these with the author first.  (I often ask them to test my version of
a patch when I have style suggestions but don't have access the target
platform or problem it solves.)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)