[Python-Dev] memory leaks in 2.2

[Tim Peters]

[Tim]
> If any language I worked on previously had a few hundred open
> bug reports (not counting feature requests), we would have shut the
> group down and pursued a new implementation.

[Guido]
> It depends on what the bugs are.

Actually, it would not have:  a backlog of that many bugs (regardless of
nature) would mean they'd never get fixed -- it's hopeless.  Time then to
cut losses.  The compilers I worked on previously sold multi-million dollar
machines, though, and had to work only with our own OS(es) and libraries.
Python's life is more complicated than that -- and Python doesn't have a few
hundred open bugs anyway (there are only 183 right now <wink>).  The Python
bug base also has gripes about everything from docs to python-mode.el in it.

> Many bugs in our tracker are intractable because we don't have the
> platform where it occurs or the user didn't supply enough information
> to reproduce it.

Those should be closed after a reasonable time:  nobody is going to work on
them.  OTOH, I don't think there are many *open* bugs of this ilk (I
routinely close such after a month, with "closed for lack of requested
followup" -- and nobody has complained about that).

> I imagine the GCC bugs are much of the same, just more (because GCC is
> more complex and wider used than Python -- most GCC users are even more
> clueless about GCC's implementation than Python users are about Python's
> implementation).

My only interaction with the gcc bug base was helping to whittle down oodles
of bad codegen cases on new ports.  I have no idea what else may be in
there.

> I try to close bugs from clueless users if there's no response to a
> request for more info, but often something that might be a bug but
> isn't easily reproduced stays open for many many months.

I don't think there are many open bugs of that ilk either.

> So I'm not sure that it's realistic to keep all bugs on a page.

We were close once.  Now the open patches don't even fit on a page.

> I did my part against bugs without someone to ask for more info by
> forbidding anonymous bugs, recently.

Appreciated, but those were the easiest to close <0.9 wink>.

the-things-that-get-done-are-the-things-that-get-worked-on-ly y'rs  - tim