[Python-Dev] Backports of standard library modules (original) (raw)

Brett Cannon brett at python.org
Mon Mar 12 00:19:00 CET 2007

On 3/11/07, Patrick Maupin <pmaupin at gmail.com> wrote:

Please forgive me if this has already been discussed -- I only recently started paying any attention to this list.

Many versions of python include "new" standard library modules that could (or often do already) work fine with previous versions. Some of the modules are brand-new, written explicitly for the standard library, and others are preexisting modules that, by community consensus, are added to the library. It seems that once a new library module is added, if it doesn't rely heavily on new core language features, it should also be added for previous versions. Obviously, it doesn't make sense to re-release an old version of Python just because a new library is available (or even to include the new library in the old version), but it might make sense to have a separate package of "extras" or "backported" modules that is re-released for prior versions whenever a new (compatible) module is added to the standard library. Although it is often quite easy to find and download a module for use with a prior version of Python, it would be really convenient if all of these modules were bundled up together and available as a single download, especially when it comes to Windows users and extension modules.

A problem with doing this is whether this will put any extra burden on python-dev. It's fine if people want to pull out of the stdlib, package them, and do that work, but in no way should we have to maintain version compatibility or worry about backporting fixes once the package is released.

I would personally rather have an informal package done to completely avoid these issues. That way no one feels obliged to keep doing this after every release.

-Brett

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