[Python-Dev] email package status in 3.X

[Brett Cannon]

On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 08:43, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
> On Jun 16, 2010, at 08:48 PM, lutz at rmi.net wrote:
>
>>Well, it looks like I've stumbled onto the "other shoe" on this
>>issue--that the email package's problems are also apparently
>>behind the fact that CGI binary file uploads don't work in 3.1
>>(http://bugs.python.org/issue4953).  Yikes.
>>
>>I trust that people realize this is a show-stopper for broader
>>Python 3.X adoption.
>
> We know it, we have extensively discussed how to fix it, we have IMO a good
> design, and we even have someone willing and able to tackle the problem.  We
> need to find a sufficient source of funding to enable him to do the work it
> will take, and so far that's been the biggest stumbling block.  It will take a
> focused and determined effort to see this through, and it's obvious that
> volunteers cannot make it happen.  I include myself in the latter category, as
> I've tried and failed at least twice to do it in my spare time.

And in general I think this is the reason some modules have not
transitioned as well as others: there are only so many of us. The
stdlib passes its test suite, but obviously some unit tests do not
cover enough of the code in the ways people need it covered.

As for using Python 3 for my code, I do and have since Python 3 became
more-or-less usable. I just happen to not work with internet-related
stuff in my day-to-day work.

Plus we have needed to maintain FOUR branches for a while. That is a
nasty time sink when you are having to port bug fixes and such. It
also means that python-dev has been focused on making sure Python 2.7
is a solid release instead of getting to focus on the stdlib in Python
3. This a nasty chicken-and-egg issue; we could ignore Python 2 and
focus on Python 3, but then the community would complain about us not
supporting the transition from 2 to 3 better, but obviously focusing
on 2 has led to 3 not getting enough TLC.

Once Python 2.7 is done and out the door the entire situation for
Python 3 should start to improve as python-dev as whole will have a
chance to begin to focus solely on Python 3.