[Python-Dev] PEP 476: Enabling certificate validation by default! (original) (raw)

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Wed Sep 3 04:43:25 CEST 2014

Antoine Pitrou writes:

On Tue, 2 Sep 2014 16:47:35 -0700 Glyph Lefkowitz <glyph at twistedmatrix.com> wrote:

As we keep saying, this is not a break in backwards compatibility, it's a bug fix.

Keeping saying it doesn't make it magically true.

It's not "magically" true, it is "just" true. What the hardliners fail to acknowledge is that this is not a bug in Python, it's a bug in the whole system, and mostly in the environment. Changing Python will not change the environment, and applications will fail, with unknown consequences. Saying they "should" fail right now is bogus when you don't even know what those applications are, or what other security measures may be in place:

Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.

On the other hand, I commend the Twisted developers for putting their values into their code with their reputation on the line. I hope they win big with this move! Shouldn't we all hope for that?

Steve

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