mxTools (was Re: why no "do : until"?)

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> 
> > From: M.-A. Lemburg [SMTP:mal at lemburg.com]
> > > As far as I can see, mxDateTime doesn't have restrictions in its license
> > -
> > > it's mxODBC which does.
> > >
> > > Is this right, Marc?
> >
> > Right.
> >
> > But please note that I wouldn't really want mxDateTime to go into
> > the core: the reason is that the mx Extensions will soon be available
> > as three packages under a new top-level package name "mx" -- I wouldn't
> > want to rip mxDateTime out of that context.
> 
> Fair enough. (Which are the other two packages going into your forthcoming
> 'mx' package, and which are staying separate? And why 'mx', anyway? I've
> always wanted to know that...)

I am currently planning to release the following bundles:

mx-BASE:
	BeeBase - flat file btree* database
	Counter - counter type
	DateTime - date/time types
	HTMLTools - tools for dealing with HTML files
	Log.py - generic log reporting tool
	Misc - some misc tools needed by all other extensions
	Proxy - wraps Python object in proxies; weak references;
               attribute access control
	Queue - a fast queue type
	Stack - a fast stack type
	TextTools - tools for fast text processing
	Tools - nice to have addons and builtins

mx-COMMERCIAL:
	ODBC - Python ODBC interface; v2.0 will have experimental
               Unicode support

mx-CRYPTO:
	Crypto - cryptography interface to OpenSSL

There are some more sub-packages which will be moved to either
mx-BASE or mx-COMMERCIAL after some more refinement. I'm not
sure when these will be released, but I will add them to the
set.

mx-EXPERIMENTAL:
	ObjectStore - experimental OO-database built on top of
              mx.ODBC
	HTMLTools - tools for dealing with HTML files
	UID - unique identifier type; good for user tracking etc.
	URL - URL type

BTW, "mx" stands for "Marc's eXtensions" -- I don't remember why
I chose such a silly name, but have to live with it now, since the
"mx" prefix has become a very well-known identifier within the
Python world.
 
> > BTW, mxODBC v2.0 will then no longer be free for commercial use. I put
> > a moderate license fee on it to at least produce some funding for mxODBC
> > and the other mx Extensions  -- the old mxODBC license just didn't
> > work out, so I had to take this step.
> 
> When is this going to happen, and how much is it going to cost? (You have
> *no* *idea* how long it takes to get a purchase request through my
> organisation!)

Plans are to release it by the end of January. It all depends
on when I find time for building the egenix.com web-site (I'm
currently swamped with projects related to our Python-based
application server).
 
> > mxODBC will still remain free for non-commercial use, e.g. for personal
> > and non-profit organizations, and as before you get full source code
> > with it, so you still have all the advantages of being able to adapt
> > the code to your needs.
> 
> So I can play with it at home, but I have to pay for it if I use it for
> work. Sounds fair enough.

Right. Commercial users will also get a 30-day trial period
to test the software prior to buying it. Schools and other
non-commercial entities don't have to pay either, since I
want to support the use of Python in education.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
______________________________________________________________________
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