[Python-Dev] PEPs from non-core devs now need a sponsor (original) (raw)

Steve Dower steve.dower at python.org
Tue Mar 5 12:14:11 EST 2019

On 05Mar2019 0620, James Edwards wrote:

I have to say, this is sort of surprising for what seems like the first official action of the steering committee.  Are there really /that many /PEPs that a team that is now, what, 5x the size of the BFDL model is worried that they'll be able to keep up?  As a long-time lurker, this hardly seems to be the case.  Despite the seemingly-well-intentioned rationale, this seems like an ominous sign.

FWIW, I'm 100% on board with this idea (and feel free to continue stealing ideas from PEP 8013 ;) ). However, the presentation of it certainly didn't emphasize the good rationale for the decision.

In short, the five person steering council is not the equivalent of 5x BDFL. If they want to delegate early decision making to the core team as a whole, they can, and that's what they've done here.

For non-core developers, and particularly first-time contributors, the PEP process typically starts at python-ideas. (Even core devs probably ought to start there, though part of being accepted as a core developer means we trust your judgement in selecting the correct venue for discussion, so if security-sig, datetime-sig, capi-sig, core-workflow, or just python-dev is more appropriate, feel free to start there.)

To "get out" of python-ideas, someone needs to suggest where it goes next. Most of the time, this is python-dev. However, if you don't have a single core developer on board from python-ideas, chances are the whole team is going to reject the proposal.

In the past, an idea would be shut down by just one negative vote (Guido's). In this future, an idea is promoted by just one positive vote (any core developer's). It's actually much easier for an "outsider" to get their idea in front of the whole core team than before. And python-ideas has core developers and regular contributors who have self-selected to "triage" ideas and help move them along. If the triagers don't like your idea, it's probably not a good idea :)

Asking for proclamation from the council/delegate is literally saying "this proposal is ready". As a contributor (first time or 100th time), if you think your proposal is ready without anyone else agreeing with you, then we think you have a humility problem and we'd like you to go work on that.

It's not a big ask to have one of the lower level mailing lists look at your proposal before the council has to make an official decision. You should want the mailing lists to look at your proposal. I certainly do, because every time they do my proposals get better, and I get better at writing proposals. This is a situation where everyone wins.

Cheers, Steve

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