[Python-Dev] Re: No new features (original) (raw)

Michael Hudson mwh at python.net
Thu Mar 10 09:19:18 CET 2005

"Donovan Baarda" <abo at minkirri.apana.org.au> writes:

G'day again,

[...]

You missed the "minor releases" bit in my post.

major releases, ie 2.x -> 3.0, are for things that can break existing code. They change the API so that things that run on 2.x may not work with 3.x. minor releases, ie 2.2.x ->2.3.0, are for things that cannot break existing code. They can extend the API such that code for 2.3.x may not work on 2.2.x, but code that runs on 2.2.x must work on 2.3.x. micro releases, ie 2.2.1 ->2.2.2, are for bug fixes only. There can be no changes to the API, so that all code that runs on 2.2.2 should work with 2.2.1, barring the bugs fixed. The example you cited of adding bool was an extension to the API, and hence should have been a minor release, not a micro release. I just read the PEP-6, and it doesn't seem to use this terminology, or make this distinction... does something else do this anywhere? I thought this approach was common knowledge...

I see. You were proposing a much larger change to the way Python releases work than I (and perhaps you? :) realised.

Not breaking any code 2.x to 2.x+1 is a nice idea, but doesn't really seem feasible in practice.

Cheers, mwh

-- nonono, while we're making wild conjectures about the behavior of completely irrelevant tasks, we must not also make serious mistakes, or the data might suddenly become statistically valid. -- Erik Naggum, comp.lang.lisp

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