Python 3.0

[Josh Boyer]

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:03:35 -0500
"David G. Mackay" <mackay_d at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> On Sun, 2007-09-02 at 17:24 -0500, Josh Boyer wrote:
> > On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:59:28 -0500
> > "David G. Mackay" <mackay_d at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > > And for the record, I do use Fedora.  Rawhide at home, latest release
> > > > at work.  On every machine I own.  That covers the gamut of primary
> > > > arches Fedora has (i686, x86_64, ppc, ppc64).
> > > > 
> > > > josh
> > > 
> > > And what do you do when you require functionality that's not in Fedora?
> > 
> > Depends.  If it's outside the scope of Fedora, such as codecs, etc I
> > certainly don't expect Fedora to fill that need.  If it's within the
> > realm of Fedora, and it's not present yet I package it up myself.  If
> > it's already in Fedora and it's lacking something I need, I work with
> > upstream to get it in place so it will follow naturally to Fedora.
> 
> So you really rely on your ability to extend Fedora to make it do what
> you want.  I understand the problems with the codecs, and expect that,
> were it legal to do so, they would be included.  The problems stemming
> from the need for a compat-python are a bit different.  Given the fact
> that python breaks compatibility with itself rather badly on a regualar
> basis, I suspect that your problems working with upstream developers are
> going to increase, and Fedora's own in-house projects may very well need
> a compat-python.

Well, two things:

1) You asked what I do when Fedora lacks something _I_ need.  That has
never included zope/plone or really any other python app.  So, at a
personal level, I'm not really impacted here.  But my approach would
not differ it I was.

2) Fedora has quite a few in-house python projects and none of them
have needed a compat package so far.  Whether that is because of
internal whip cracking to port to newer python, or because people are
just that motivated I have no idea.  I don't work on any of those
projects.

All that being said, it is _extremely_ important to remember that just
because it's not in Fedora doesn't mean it's bad.  If people need a
compat python package, then they can by all means create one themselves
and slap it into a third party repo for others to use.

Take Ignacio for example.  While I disagree that Fedora as a
_distro_ needs a python3.0 alpha package at the moment, I applaud his
efforts to get it packaged and shared.  I think that is a very
worthwhile effort, and I'm glad he's done so.  I only wish something
like that would have happened for zope/plone in the F7 timeframe. (And
maybe it did, I just am not aware of it.)

josh