[Python-Dev] importlib is now bootstrapped (and what that means)

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:41:56 -0400
Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 20:27, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:11:14 +0200
> > Georg Brandl <g.brandl at gmx.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > No, it's not just an existing Python, it is (at least currently) the same
> > > version of Python being built.  Therefore I wrote about the bootstrapping
> > > problems when bytecode changes.
> > >
> > > Depending on Cython is better in that it breaks the bootstrapping cycle,
> > > but on the other hand the C code may need to be regenerated when the C
> > API
> > > changes in an incompatible way.
> >
> > Cython OTOH probably needs Python 2.x, which isn't that great for
> > building Python 3. And requiring Cython for developing is not very
> > contributor-friendly.
> >
> 
> Well, required to regenerate _frozen_importlib, but nothing else. I mean
> making fixes go into importlib directly and get tested that way, not
> through __import__(). So really Cython would only be needed when
> importlib._bootstrap has been changed and you are making a commit.

That's still a large dependency to bring in, while we already have a
working solution.
I'd understand using Cython to develop some new extension module which
requires linking against a C library (and is thus impossible to write
in pure Python). But for importlib that's totally non-necessary.

I guess I'm -1 on it.

Regards

Antoine.