[Python-Dev] folding cElementTree behind ElementTree in 3.3 (original) (raw)

Eli Bendersky eliben at gmail.com
Fri Feb 10 04:58:49 CET 2012

That said, I think that the particular change discussed in this thread can be made anyway, since it doesn't really modify ET's APIs or functionality, just the way it gets imported from stdlib. I would suggest that, assuming python-dev want to take ownership of the module, one last-ditch attempt be made to contact Fredrik. We should email him, and copy python-dev (and maybe even python-list) asking for his view, and ideally his blessing on the stdlib version being forked and maintained independently going forward. Put a time limit on responses ("if we don't hear by XXX, we'll assume Fredrik is either uncontactable or not interested, and therefore we can go ahead with maintaining the stdlib version independently"). It's important to respect Fredrik's wishes and ownership, but we can't leave part of the stdlib frozen and abandoned just because he's not available any longer.

IMHO it's no longer a question of "wanting" to take ownership. According to Florent, this has already happened to some extent. Also, given the support history of ET outside stdlib, we can't in the same breath not take ownership and keep recommending this module. Lack of maintenance makes it a dead end, which is a shame given the choice of alternative modules for XML parsing in the stdlib.

I don't mind sending Fredrik an email as you detailed. Any suggested things to include in it?

Also, the most recent email (from 2009) of him I can find is "fredrik at pythonware.com". If anyone knows of anything more up-to-date, please let me know.

Eli

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