Modules for inclusion in standard library?

[Paul Rubin]

Rocco Moretti <roccomoretti at hotpop.com> writes:
> 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.)

I've never heard of Python having such a policy and I don't understand
how such a stupid policy could be considered compatible with a
proclaimed "batteries included" philosophy.  Why would Python
advocates want to make Python deliberately uncompetitive with PHP,
Java, and other languages that do include database modules?

> A notable exception is the dbm modules, but I seem to recall hearing
> that the official position is that it was a mistake. (Now only kept
> for backward compatability.)

Ahem: Tkinter.  There's actually several more, looking in the lib docs.