[Python-Dev] -Dwarn, long->double overflow (was RE: [Python-checkins] CVS: python/dist/src/Misc NEWS,1.219,1.220)

[Guido van Rossum]

> > Would it make sense to define a Jython property for the division
> > behavior?  Then I could change the syntax to -Ddivision=old,
> > -Ddivision=warn, -Ddivision=new.  That's a bit long, but acceptable.
> 
> This would be similar to compilers which use -Dsym[=value]. Apache has a
> similar -Dsym[=value] option.
> 
> Note that a general -Dkey=value option would be quite nice. They could all
> end in sys.startoptions or somesuch. After the -D switches are processed,
> the startup code can look in the dictionary for "division" to determine what
> to do.
> 
> sys.startoptions would be a generalized way to pass parameters into
> subsystems which otherwise have no control of the command line. (Apache 2.0
> uses this to pass params to the modules which handle request processing)  By
> using sys.startoptions, it would also be portable to systems which don't
> usually use a command line (Windows, Mac, GUIs, etc); they could potentially
> get those options from the registry or whatever.

Yes, would be nice - but I have no time for that if I want to make a
release this week (or later).

I think I'll go for something stupid and simple now, like just using
-q to turn on division warnings, and nothing else (the -Dnew option is
not very useful I think).

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)