[Python-Dev] python/dist/src/Lib/bsddb init.py,1.5,1.6 (original) (raw)

Martin v. Löwis martin at v.loewis.de
Mon Sep 15 17:58:14 EDT 2003

Michael Chermside <mcherm at mcherm.com> writes:

I don't really understand this absolutist position.

I think the rationale is that developers don't actively use bug fixes, whereas they do use new features.

So when you tell them "we have booleans now", they will drop everything else and start putting booleans all over the place. In the middle of that, they think "wait, what about 2.2", and they will test 2.2.1, and find that it works just fine. They run into problems only after they release the software.

With bug fixes, it is different: People won't actively change their working code to deliberately formulate it in a way that breaks on older Python versions. Instead, upon reading that the bug has been fixed, they typically think "does not concern me", and proceed with whatever they were doing, anyway. In some cases, they may happen to write new code that relies on a recent bug fix. When they discover that older versions don't work with their code, they just bump the prerequisites, or add a work-around.

In addition, there is always the concern that new code may break existing code, so the amount of new code should be kept to the smallest possible minimum. Adding new features is beyond that minimum, so it should not be done (regardless of whether that new code is likely to break existing code, upon visual inspection).

Regards, Martin

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