[Python-Dev] Distutils using apply (original) (raw)

M.-A. Lemburg mal@lemburg.com
Mon, 05 May 2003 09:41:05 +0200

Moshe Zadka wrote:

Hi! I haven't seen this come up yet -- why is distutils still using apply? It causes warnings to be emitted when building packages with Python 2.3 and -Wall, and is altogether unclean.

Could someone please explain why apply() was marked deprecated ?

The only reference I can find is in PEP 290 and that merely reports this "fact".

I'm -1 on deprecating apply(). Not only because it introduces yet another incompatiblity between Python versions, but also because it is still useful in the context of having a function which mimics a function call, e.g. for map() and other instance where you pass around functions as operators.

Is this just a matter of checking in a patch? Or submitting one to SF? Or is there a real desire to be compatible to Python 1.5.2?

Yes. It was decided that Python 2.3 will ship with the last version of distutils that is Python 1.5.2 compatible. After that it may drop that compatibility and become Python 2.0 compatible.

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