[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change (original) (raw)

Jeremy Hylton jeremy@zope.com
Mon, 8 Apr 2002 18:33:55 -0400

"PH" == Paul Hughett <hughett@mercur.uphs.upenn.edu> writes:

PH> As an extension developer, I see considerable advantages to PH> having separate stable and experimental tracks, a la Linux.

Paul,

Do you ever do build Python from a cvs checkout? It seems to me that what you call an experimental track, we call a "cvs checkout." What you call a stable releases, we call a release.

PH> The key distinction, as I see it, is that the stable track has PH> most of the bugs fixed, is recommended for production use PH> (though not perfect), and that any code that works with stable PH> version N will almost certainly work with version N+1, but it PH> doesn't have all the latest and greatest features.

I think all of this was true of Python 2.1 & 2.2 and will be true of 2.3.

Sure, there are bugs in 2.1 & 2.2, but we fixed the ones we knew how to fix. I expect that "stable" Linux kernel releases also have bugs, else I wouldn't have a 2.2.12 release on my home machine :-).

Jeremy