[Python-Dev] Directory for packages maintained outside the core (was Re: ElementTree (original) (raw)

Andrew Bennetts andrew-pythondev at puzzling.org
Mon Dec 12 14:48:23 CET 2005

On Mon, Dec 12, 2005 at 01:32:31PM +0000, Michael Hoffman wrote:

[Hye-Shik Chang] >> I think "contrib" is somewhat conventional for the purpose.

[Steve Holden] > Indeed, but conventionally all code in the Python core is contributed, > and I think we need a name that differentiates externally-maintained > packages from the contributions that are integrated into the core and > maintained as part of it. The same could be said of a lot of other projects that use the "contrib" convention. I have a much better idea of what "contrib" means than "kits" or "external."

I have a much better idea of what "contrib" means than "external", but it's the wrong idea :)

"contrib" implies to me things that are not really a core part of the project (just extras that may perhaps be of use to someone), and so they haven't received the same quality control or integration (e.g. I wouldn't expect to find documentation for it in the standard library reference). Of course, I'm thinking of "contrib" directories in tar.gz files when I think this, but if I saw a contrib directory in SVN (without having seen this mailing list thread), I'd probably assume the same of it.

"external" is much clearer to me, and has a clear parallel with SVN's "svn:external" feature. Either way, a simple README.txt in the directory could explain things adequately.

-Andrew.

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