[Python-Dev] ssize_t branch (Was: release plan for 2.5 ?) (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Mon Feb 13 20:12:42 CET 2006

On 2/12/06, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:

Neal Norwitz wrote: > I'm tempted to say we should merge now. I know the branch works on > 64-bit boxes. I can test on a 32-bit box if Martin hasn't already. > There will be a lot of churn fixing problems, but maybe we can get > more people involved.

The ssizet branch has now all the API I want it to have. I just posted the PEP to comp.lang.python, maybe people have additional things they consider absolutely necessary. There are two aspects left, and both can be done after the merge: - a lot of modules still need adjustments, to really support 64-bit collections. This shouldn't cause any API changes, AFAICT. - the printing of Pyssizet values should be supported. I think Tim proposed to provide the 'z' formatter across platforms. This is a new API, but it's a pure extension, so it can be done in the trunk.

Great news. I'm looking forward to getting this over with!

I would like to avoid changing APIs after the merge to the trunk has happened; I remember Guido saying (a few years ago) that this change must be a single large change, rather many small incremental changes. I agree, and I hope I have covered everything that needs to be covered.

Let me qualify that a bit -- I'd be okay with one honking big change followed by some minor adjustments. I'd say that, since you've already done so much in the branch, we're quickly approaching the point where the extra testing we get from merging soon out-benefits the problems some folks may experience due to the branch not being perfect yet.

-- --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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