[Python-Dev] Proposal to revert r54204 (splitext change)

[Phillip J. Eby]

In addition to being made in the face of controversy and opposition, this 
change is an alteration to *documented and tested* behavior and thus cannot 
reasonably be considered a mere bug fix.

In addition to the prior behavior being explicitly documented in the 
function docstrings, r54204 shows that it was also *tested* as behaving 
that way by test_macpath, test_ntpath, and test_posixpath.  When combined 
with the explicit docstrings, this must be considered incontrovertible 
proof that the previous behavior was either explicitly intended, or at the 
very least a known, expected, and *accepted* behavior.

This backwards-incompatible change is therefore contrary to policy and 
should be reverted, pending a proper transition plan for the change (such 
as introduction of an alternative API and deprecation of the existing one.)

Some relevant links:

http://svn.python.org/view?rev=54204&view=rev
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2007-March/071762.html
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2007-March/071798.html