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| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex | 75 |
1 files changed, 38 insertions, 37 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex index 87fcd72..7440b92 100644 --- a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex +++ b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew20.tex @@ -58,37 +58,42 @@ 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 would -never have gotten 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. +but to how Python is developed: in May 2000 the Python developers +began using the tools made available by SourceForge for storing +source code, tracking bug reports, and managing the queue of patch +submissions. To report bugs or submit patches for Python 2.0, use the +bug tracking and patch manager tools available from Python's project +page, located at \url{http://sourceforge.net/projects/python/}. + +The most important of the services now hosted at SourceForge is the +Python CVS tree, the version-controlled repository containing the +source code for Python. 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 would never have gotten done. + +The shift to using SourceForge's services has 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 @@ -136,10 +141,6 @@ and are also available in HTML form from 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} @@ -1157,7 +1158,7 @@ these modules. The authors would like to thank the following people for offering suggestions on drafts of this article: Mark Hammond, Gregg Hauser, -Fredrik Lundh, Detlef Lannert, Skip Montanaro, Vladimir Marangozov, -Guido van Rossum, and Neil Schemenauer. +Fredrik Lundh, Detlef Lannert, Aahz Maruch, Skip Montanaro, Vladimir +Marangozov, Guido van Rossum, Neil Schemenauer, and Russ Schmidt. \end{document} |