[Python-Dev] Significance of informational PEPs (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Thu, 18 Apr 2002 13:45:48 -0400

If people disagree about this view of informational PEPs as purely advisory, please speak up now so we can discuss this issue.

I think some informational PEPs (e.g. PEP 1 itself :-) are actually more like standards, while others are, indeed, informational. Maybe we need separate categories? Or simply call the standard ones standard, even if they don't define some Python feature?

(This came up because of the recently-posted PEP 272. Some people on the python-crypto list don't like PEP 272's interface at all, and other people think the whole idea of a standard API for block encryption is useless. It seems impossible to come to consensus, so I wanted to underscore that informational PEPs don't bind people to the interfaces they describe.)

I certainly prefer that over trying to lobby me for a pronouncement. :-)

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