[Python-Dev] Suggestion: stopping to trust os mtimes

[Moshe Zadka]

Trusting OS-based mtimes for .pyc caching has some inherent problems.
(Clock syncing and similar) Frankly, though I've never been bitten by
this, it does give me an uncomfortable feeling. What if, instead, we'd use
md5- or sha-based approach? I'm willing to bet that the 2^128 chance of
problems is miniscule compared to the real problems clock syncing has
already caused. (I think I remember some problem with .pyc's on IIS, but
I may just be hallucinating)

Problems:
.pyc size would increase by 24 bytes <wink>

--
Moshe Zadka <moshez@math.huji.ac.il>
http://www.oreilly.com/news/prescod_0300.html
http://www.linux.org.il -- we put the penguin in .com