Added a section describing the new development process. Part of it

   comes from two comp.lang.tcl postings of mine, with much rewriting
   and expansion of the material.
Note that 2.0 will be released in the autumn, not the summer.

1 files changed, 87 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex
index 7043b58..40d7c62 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ the beta cycle before the final release of Python 2.0.
 }
 
 A new release of Python, version 2.0, will be released some time this
-summer.  Beta versions are already available from
+autumn.  Beta versions are already available from
 \url{http://www.pythonlabs.com/products/python2.0/}.  This article
 covers the exciting new features in 2.0, highlights some other useful
 changes, and points out a few incompatible changes that may require
@@ -55,6 +55,92 @@ described in this document are only in 2.0, because a lot of work was
 done between May and September.  
 
 % ======================================================================
+\section{New Development Process}
+
+The most important change in Python 2.0 may not be to the code at all,
+but to how Python is developed.  
+
+In May of 2000, the Python CVS tree was moved to SourceForge.
+Previously, there were roughly 7 or so people who had write access to
+the CVS tree, and all patches had to be inspected and checked in by
+one of the people on this short list.  Obviously, this wasn't very
+scalable.  By moving the CVS tree to SourceForge, it became possible
+to grant write access to more people; as of September 2000 there were
+27 people able to check in changes, a fourfold increase.  This makes
+possible large-scale changes that wouldn't be attempted if they'd have
+to be filtered through the small group of core developers.  For
+example, one day Peter Schneider-Kamp took it into his head to drop
+K\&R C compatibility and convert the C source for Python to ANSI
+C. After getting approval on the python-dev mailing list, he launched
+into a flurry of checkins that lasted about a week, other developers
+joined in to help, and the job was done.  If there were only 5 people
+with write access, probably that task would have been viewed as
+``nice, but not worth the time and effort needed'' and it wouldn't
+never have been done.
+
+SourceForge also provides tools for tracking bug and patch
+submissions, and in combination with the public CVS tree, they've
+resulted in a remarkable increase in the speed of development.
+Patches now get submitted, commented on, revised by people other than
+the original submitter, and bounced back and forth between people
+until the patch is deemed worth checking in.  This didn't come without
+a cost: developers now have more e-mail to deal with, more mailing
+lists to follow, and special tools had to be written for the new
+environment.  For example, SourceForge sends default patch and bug
+notification e-mail messages that are completely unhelpful, so Ka-Ping
+Yee wrote an HTML screen-scraper that sends more useful messages.
+
+The ease of adding code caused a few initial growing pains, such as
+code was checked in before it was ready or without getting clear
+agreement from the developer group.  The approval process that has
+emerged is somewhat similar to that used by the Apache group.
+Developers can vote +1, +0, -0, or -1 on a patch; +1 and -1 denote
+acceptance or rejection, while +0 and -0 mean the developer is mostly
+indifferent to the change, though with a slight positive or negative
+slant.  The most significant change from the Apache model is that
+Guido van Rossum, who has Benevolent Dictator For Life status, can
+ignore the votes of the other developers and approve or reject a
+change, effectively giving him a +Infinity / -Infinity vote.
+
+Producing an actual patch is the last step in adding a new feature,
+and is usually easy compared to the earlier task of coming up with a
+good design.  Discussions of new features can often explode into
+lengthy mailing list threads, making the discussion hard to follow,
+and no one can read every posting to python-dev.  Therefore, a
+relatively formal process has been set up to write Python Enhancement
+Proposals (PEPs), modelled on the Internet RFC process.  PEPs are
+draft documents that describe a proposed new feature, and are
+continually revised until the community reaches a consensus, either
+accepting or rejecting the proposal.  Quoting from the introduction to
+PEP 1, ``PEP Purpose and Guidelines'':
+
+\begin{quotation}
+    PEP stands for Python Enhancement Proposal.  A PEP is a design
+    document providing information to the Python community, or
+    describing a new feature for Python.  The PEP should provide a
+    concise technical specification of the feature and a rationale for
+    the feature.
+
+    We intend PEPs to be the primary mechanisms for proposing new
+    features, for collecting community input on an issue, and for
+    documenting the design decisions that have gone into Python.  The
+    PEP author is responsible for building consensus within the
+    community and documenting dissenting opinions.
+\end{quotation}
+
+Read the rest of PEP 1 for the details of the PEP editorial process,
+style, and format.  PEPs are kept in the Python CVS tree on
+SourceForge, though they're not part of the Python 2.0 distribution,
+and are also available in HTML form from
+\url{http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/}.  As of September 2000,
+there are 25 PEPS, ranging from PEP 201, ``Lockstep Iteration'', to
+PEP 225, ``Elementwise/Objectwise Operators''.
+
+To report bugs or submit patches for Python 2.0, use the bug tracking
+and patch manager tools available from the SourceForge project page,
+at \url{http://sourceforge.net/projects/python/}.
+
+% ======================================================================
 \section{Unicode}
 
 The largest new feature in Python 2.0 is a new fundamental data type: