[Python-Dev] Proposing PEP 345 : Metadata for Python Software Packages 1.2

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

david.lyon at preisshare.net writes:

 > With respect, it's not a very common use case for a developer to
 > say that package needs a python interpretor 'older' than 2.5.

Of course it is.  I don't claim it is the majority of cases out there,
but stable versions of many of the packages I use will specify an
older python (Mailman and Zope both specify a range of Pythons, rarely
including the most recent release, and Bazaar, although it tries to
keep up with Python releases, tends to recommend being conservative,
sticking to release (n-1) for the first few months into release n.)

And in fact this case is often more the important one.  Packages that
depend on having a *recent* version of python will often crash
quickly, before doing permanent damage, when an undefined syntax,
function, or method is invoked, while packages that depend on a quirk
in behavior of an older version will typically silently corrupt data.

 > imho, all that they would know, is that they're using python
 > (for example) 2.4 or 2.5 (pick a python version) and they
 > know it works pretty well.

If they want to specify a Python version that works, they may as well
bundle it, and many do.  But even in that case the user may want to
know about the dependency.

BTW, *all* of the Python applications I really care about make a point
of specifying a range of versions they work with (or bundle a
particular version).  So in fact many developers do know what versions
work or fail, and often why (and they sometimes even provide
workarounds/patches for adventurers who want to use a Python outside
of the recommended range).

 > It's then up to the user if they want to use it on any other
 > version.

This is often an undesirable posture.  From the user's point of view,
the system version of Python may have passed various local tests and
therefore be strongly preferred (for example, requiring far less time
for approval from the security team).  This is especially true for
mail or web applications and other applications that must run in a
very hostile environment.  Many developers do want to provide this
kind of information to such users.

I think you should rethink your position on how valid your personal
intuitions are for generalization.  You are certainly representative
of a certain important segment of developers, but I don't think you
have a good sense of the very broad class of requirements that other
developers are bringing to the table.