Community (*sigh*)

[Terry Reedy]

On 6/13/2010 7:40 AM, Thomas Jollans wrote:
> You want to contribute to the stdlib? No problem, it's easy! I did so
> recently. You file an issue on the python.org bug tracker, describing
> the problem, and attach a patch that fixes it. A nice developer with
> commit rights will be with you shortly.

That is more true now than is used to be. Last week while reviewing 
older issues tagged with 2.5, I found
http://bugs.python.org/issue3129
a bug report with patch with no comments for two years. I verified that 
the problem still existed in 3.1, read the patch, suggested application, 
and now the fix has been applied to 3.2.

Three points here:
1. even if an issue does not get immediae attention, someone will see it 
eventually.
2. people are needed to make it sooner than later.
3. almost anyone reading this could have typed 'import struct' and 
pasted in the two examples, like I did, and report the result. People 
who cannot change the header fields as I did can request assistence on 
#python chat channed or post change suggestions here or email someone 
like me or just suggest changes in the issue message, which will very 
likely get seen by someone who can respond.

Terry Jan Reedy