[Python-Dev] Const-correctness in C-API Object Protocol

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:08:01 -0500
Alexander Belopolsky <alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 6:34 PM, David Claridge <daave at daave.com> wrote:
> ..
> > I was wondering if there is some reason why C API functions like
> > PyObject_CallMethod[1] and PySys_GetObject[2] take char* arguments
> > rather than const char*s?
> 
> The later is addressed by issue 1699259
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue1699259>.  It looks like const was added
> in 3.2, but deemed not important enough to backport to 2.7.  The issue
> is still open, so interested parties can argue for backport there.

I don't think it's a good idea to backport visible API changes.
(someone successfully compiling on 2.7.N could then have users
complaining that compilation fails on 2.7.N-1).
Moreover, it doesn't really fix a bug.

Regards

Antoine.