[Python-Dev] Pymalloc and backward compatibility (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Fri, 05 Apr 2002 12:46:39 -0500

>> Why can't you realistically desupport pre-2.0? > > Because 1.5.2 is still most commonly found as the default Python, like > it or not. I don't care for 1.4, but 1.5.2 support is a MUST.

I must be missing something here. We're not talking about an end-user product, we're talking about a developer tool. What's wrong with requiring a Python download for someone who at this point wants to upgrade vim from the system default?

I wasn't talking about vim, sorry. But we should support Python developers who want to write extensions that work with all versions from Python 1.5.2 onwards.

The default Python for Mandrake 8.1 (not the most current version), for example, is Python 2.1.1. I don't think Python 1.5.2 is the default Python for anything other than Red Hat at the moment, and even if I'm wrong about that now, it certainly will be true by the time any new version of vim becomes an installed default.

Vendors can release new versions as much as they want, but most users will only upgrade when forced. Python 1.5.2 binaries are still very common. I still get mail from people who say "why do you change Python so much? 1.5.2 works just fine for me."

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)