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| -rw-r--r-- | Misc/NEWS | 273 |
1 files changed, 270 insertions, 3 deletions
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@ What's new in this release? =========================== -Below is a list of all relevant changes since release 1.4. The -sections are now in a more useful order: the most recent changes are -listed first. +Below is a list of all relevant changes since release 1.4. The most +recent changes are listed first. A note on attributions: while I have sprinkled some names throughout here, I'm grateful to many more people who remain unnamed. You may @@ -14,6 +13,274 @@ credit, let me know and I'll add you to the list! ====================================================================== +From 1.5.2a1 to 1.5.2a2 +======================= + +General +------- + +- It is now a syntax error to have a function argument without a +default following one with a default. + +- __file__ is now set to the .py file if it was parsed (it used to +always be the .pyc/.pyo file). + +- Don't exit with a fatal error during initialization when there's a +problem with the exceptions.py module. + +- New environment variable PYTHONOPTIMIZE can be used to set -O. + +- New version of python-mode.el for Emacs. + +Miscellaneous fixed bugs +------------------------ + +- No longer print the (confusing) error message about stack underflow +while compiling. + +- Some threading and locking bugs fixed. + +- When errno is zero, report "Error", not "Success". + +Documentation +------------- + +- Documentation will be released separately. + +- Doc strings added to array and md5 modules by Chris Petrilli. + +Ports and build procedure +------------------------- + +- Stop installing when a move or copy fails. + +- New version of the OS/2 port code by Jeff Rush. + +- The makesetup script handles absolute filenames better. + +- The 'new' module is now enabled by default in the Setup file. + +- I *think* I've solved the problem with the Linux build blowing up +sometimes due to a conflict between sigcheck/intrcheck and +signalmodule. + +Built-in functions +------------------ + +- The second argument to apply() can now be any sequence, not just a +tuple. + +Built-in types +-------------- + +- Lists have a new method: L1.extend(L2) is equivalent to the common +idiom L1[len(L1):] = L2. + +- Better error messages when a sequence is indexed with a non-integer. + +- Bettter error message when calling a non-callable object (include +the type in the message). + +Python services +--------------- + +- New version of cPickle.c fixes some bugs. + +- pickle.py: improved instantiation error handling. + +- code.py: reworked quite a bit. New base class +InteractiveInterpreter and derived class InteractiveConsole. Fixed +several problems in compile_command(). + +- py_compile.py: print error message and continue on syntax errors. +Also fixed an old bug with the fstat code (it was never used). + +- pyclbr.py: support submodules of packages. + +String Services +--------------- + +- StringIO.py: raise the right exception (ValueError) for attempted +I/O on closed StringIO objects. + +- re.py: fixed a bug in subn(), which caused .groups() to fail inside +the replacement function called by sub(). + +- The struct module has a new format 'P': void * in native mode. + +Generic OS Services +------------------- + +- Module time: Y2K robustness. 2-digit year acceptance depends on +value of time.accept2dyear, initialized from env var PYTHONY2K, +default 0. Years 00-68 mean 2000-2068, while 69-99 mean 1969-1999 +(POSIX or X/Open recommendation). + +- os.path: normpath(".//x") should return "x", not "/x". + +- getpass.py: fall back on default_getpass() when sys.stdin.fileno() +doesn't work. + +- tempfile.py: regenerate the template after a fork() call. + +Optional OS Services +-------------------- + +- In the signal module, disable restarting interrupted system calls +when we have siginterrupt(). + +Debugger +-------- + +- No longer set __args__; this feature is no longer supported and can +affect the debugged code. + +- cmd.py, pdb.py and bdb.py have been overhauled by Richard Wolff, who +added aliases and some other useful new features, e.g. much better +breakpoint support: temporary breakpoint, disabled breakpoints, +breakpoints with ignore counts, and conditions; breakpoints can be set +on a file before it is loaded. + +Profiler +-------- + +- Changes so that JPython can use it. Also fix the calibration code +so it actually works again +. +Internet Protocols and Support +------------------------------ + +- imaplib.py: new version from Piers Lauder. + +- smtplib.py: change sendmail() method to accept a single string or a +list or strings as the destination (commom newbie mistake). + +- poplib.py: LIST with a msg argument fixed. + +- urlparse.py: some optimizations for common case (http). + +- urllib.py: support content-length in info() for ftp protocol; +support for a progress meter through a third argument to +urlretrieve(); commented out gopher test (the test site is dead). + +Internet Data handling +---------------------- + +- sgmllib.py: support tags with - or . in their name. + +- mimetypes.py: guess_type() understands 'data' URLs. + +Restricted Execution +-------------------- + +- The classes rexec.RModuleLoader and rexec.RModuleImporter no +longer exist. + +Tkinter +------- + +- When reporting an exception, store its info in sys.last_*. Also, +write all of it to stderr. + +- Added NS, EW, and NSEW constants, for grid's sticky option. + +- Fixed last-minute bug in 1.5.2a1 release: need to include "mytime.h". + +- Make bind variants without a sequence return a tuple of sequences +(formerly it returned a string, which wasn't very convenient). + +- Add image commands to the Text widget (these are new in Tk 8.0). + +- Added new listbox and canvas methods: {xview,yview}_{scroll,moveto}.) + +- Improved the thread code (but you still can't call update() from +another thread on Windows). + +- Fixed unnecessary references to _default_root in the new dialog +modules. + +- Miscellaneous problems fixed. + + +Windows General +--------------- + +- Call LoadLibraryEx(..., ..., LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH) to +search for dependent dlls in the directory containing the .pyd. + +- In debugging mode, call DebugBreak() in Py_FatalError(). + +Windows Installer +----------------- + +- Install zlib.dll in the DLLs directory instead of in the win32 +system directory, to avoid conflicts with other applications that have +their own zlib.dll. + +Test Suite +---------- + +- test_long.py: new test for long integers, by Tim Peters. + +- regrtest.py: improved so it can be used for other test suites as +well. + +- test_strftime.py: use re to compare test results, to support legal +variants (e.g. on Linux). + +Tools and Demos +--------------- + +- Four new scripts in Tools/scripts: crlf.py and lfcr.py (to +remove/add Windows style '\r\n' line endings), untabify.py (to remove +tabs), and rgrep.yp (reverse grep). + +- Improvements to Tools/freeze/. Each Python module is now written to +its own C file. This prevents some compilers or assemblers from +blowing up on large frozen programs, and saves recompilation time if +only a few modules are changed. Other changes too, e.g. new command +line options -x and -i. + +- Much improved (and smaller!) version of Tools/scripts/mailerdaemon.py. + +Python/C API +------------ + +- New mechanism to support extensions of the type object while +remaining backward compatible with extensions compiled for previous +versions of Python 1.5. A flags field indicates presence of certain +fields. + +- Addition to the buffer API to differentiate access to bytes and +8-bit characters (in anticipation of Unicode characters). + +- New argument parsing format t# ("text") to indicate 8-bit +characters; s# simply means 8-bit bytes, for backwards compatibility. + +- New object type, bufferobject.c is an example and can be used to +create buffers from memory. + +- Some support for 64-bit longs, including some MS platforms. + +- Many calls to fprintf(stderr, ...) have been replaced with calls to +PySys_WriteStderr(...). + +- The calling context for PyOS_Readline() has changed: it must now be +called with the interpreter lock held! It releases the lock around +the call to the function pointed to by PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer +(default PyOS_StdioReadline()). + +- New APIs PyLong_FromVoidPtr() and PyLong_AsVoidPtr(). + +- Renamed header file "thread.h" to "pythread.h". + +- The code string of code objects may now be anything that supports the +buffer API. + + +====================================================================== + + From 1.5.1 to 1.5.2a1 ===================== |