Modules for inclusion in standard library?

[Daniel Dittmar]

Rocco Moretti wrote:
>>> Except that (please correct me if I'm wrong) there is somewhat of a
>>> policy for not including interface code for third party programs which
>>> are not part of the operating system. (I.e. the modules in the
>>> standard libary should all be usable for anyone with a default OS +
>>> Python install.)

There are several degrees of std-ness for Python Modules:

Example expat: The sources for this extension module are contained in 
the Python tarball, so this module is guaranteed to be part of a Python 
distribution

Example zlib: If the include files and libs can be found, this extension 
will be built. So it's part of std-Python (the source), but not part of 
std-Python (installed). See others in Modules/Setup

Binary distributions may choose additional modules which appear to be 
standard. Example: zlib is part of all Python-Installations on Windows 
and most Linux-distribution will have readlines as 'standard'.

There seems to be a great reluctance by the Python developers to add 
modules of the expat kind, as this means responsibilities for additional 
source modules. There's also the problem with incompatible licenses, 
integrating a second configure, deciding when to update to the latest 
version of the library etc.

Another problem is that there are often several modules for a specific 
problem (e.g. several modules interfacing to PostgreSQL), so there's 
always a chance to make an anemy for life, no matter which you pick.

And module authors might not be interested as they'd be then bound by 
the Python release cycle.

Daniel