[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change

[Guido van Rossum]

> I wonder if decoupling more of the standard library isn't a good idea,
> although it flies in the face of "batteries included".

I think it will be a *bad* thing, unless we can automate it to
perfection (more about that below).

> One thing I like about XEmacs's model is that I kind of get both for
> little effort.  I want all the latest packages, but I don't want to
> re-install XEmacs to get them.  So I use the package manager, which
> isn't exactly one-click-updates, but it's pretty simple to use.

For most mortals, the XEmacs package manager simply *sucks*.  Maybe
that is because it's broken out of the box and you have to find the
right webpage that tells you how to manually fix some things.  But it
still sucks.

The only thing that *might* work IMO would be something that pulls
down the latest (compatible) library modules when you say "make
install", or in a post-install script when using RPMs or some such
thing.  But even then, the people distributing Python on CD with their
books lose -- those CDs are there for folks who have a slow or
non-existent network connection.

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