[Python-Dev] PEP 411: Provisional packages in the Python standard library

[Eli Bendersky]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 22:13, Jim J. Jewett <jimjjewett at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Eli Bendersky wrote (in
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2012-February/116393.html ):
>
>> A package will be marked provisional by including the
>> following paragraph as a note at the top of its
>> documentation page:
>
> I really would like some marker available from within Python
> itself.
>
> Use cases:
>
> (1)  During development, the documentation I normally read
> first is whatever results from import module; help(module),
> or possibly dir(module).
>
> (2)  At BigCorp, there were scheduled times to move as much
> as possible to the current (or current-1) version.
> Regardless of policy, full regression test suites don't
> generally exist.  If Python were viewed as part of the
> infrastructure (rather than as part of a specific
> application), or if I were responsible for maintaining an
> internal application built on python, that would be the time
> to upgrade python -- and I would want an easy way to figure
> out which applications and libraries I should concentrate on
> for testing.
>

The big problem with this is that it's something that will have to be
maintained, so it adds some additional burden (I suppose it will have
to be tested as well).

An easy way for (2) would be just grepping on the Python docs for the
provisional note and seeing which modules have it.

Anyhow, I'm not against the idea. I just think it has to be discussed
in more detail so all the implications are understood.


>> * Encapsulation of the import state (PEP 368)
>
> Wrong PEP number.  I'm guessing that you meant 406.
>

Yep, thanks. Fixed.

Eli