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-rw-r--r--README108
1 files changed, 9 insertions, 99 deletions
diff --git a/README b/README
index 895b84e..2b097b7 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,109 +1,19 @@
-This is Python release 1.5
-==========================
+This is Python release 1.5.1
+============================
-This version is officially released on Wednesday, December 31, 1997.
-It doesn't differ very much from 1.5b2 (released on Dec. 12).
+This version is officially released on Tuesday, April 14, 1997. It is
+mostly a bugfix release on Python 1.5.
What's new in this release?
---------------------------
-There's a loooong list of changes since release 1.4 in the file
-Misc/NEWS. Some highlights:
+See the Misc/NEWS file. Nothing spectacular this time, only small
+changes (as you would expect from a release called "1.5.1").
- - It's much faster (almost twice for the Lib/test/pystone.py
- benchmark.)
-
- - There is now an assert statement: ``assert <condition>'' or
- ``assert <condition>, <errormessage>''. It raises AssertionError if
- the condition evaluates to false. The default error message is
- empty; the source text of the assertion statement is printed as part
- of the traceback.
-
- - There is now built-in support for importing hierarchical module
- names (e.g. "import spam.ham.eggs"); ni is declared obsolete. Note
- that the built-in package support is somewhat simpler (no __ and
- __domain__) and differs in one crucial aspect: __init__.py is
- required, and loaded in the package's namespace instead of as a
- submodule. For more information, see
- http://www.python.org/doc/essays/packages.html.
-
- - The new "re" module (Perl style regular expressions) is here. It
- is based on Philip Hazel's pcre code; the Python interfaces were put
- together by Andrew Kuchling, Tim Peters and Jeffrey Ollie. The
- regex module is declared obsolete.
-
- - In support of the re module, a new form of string literals is
- introduced, "raw strings": e.g. r"\n" is equal to "\\n".
-
- - All standard exceptions and most exceptions defined in standard
- extension modules are now classes. Use python -X to revert back to
- string exceptions. See
- http://www.python.org/doc/essays/stdexceptions.html
- for more info.
-
- - Comparisons can now raise exceptions (previously, exceptions
- occuring during comparisons were swept under the rug).
-
- - New dictionary methods: .clear(), .copy(), .update(), .get(). The
- first two are obvious; d1.update(d2) is equivalent to the for loop
- ``for k in d2.keys(): d1[k] = d2[k]''; and d.get(k) returns d[k] if
- it exists and None (or the optional second argument) if not.
-
- - There is a new regression test harness, which tests many more
- modules. (To run the tests, do "import test.autotest".)
-
- - The interpreter is much smarter about the initial value for
- sys.path; you can control it easier using $PYTHONHOME (see the usage
- message, e.g. try ``python -h''). In most situations, the
- interpreter can be installed at an arbitrary location without having
- to recompile.
-
- - The build process now builds a single library (libpython1.5.a)
- which contains everything except for the main() entry point. This
- makes life much easier for applications that embed Python.
-
- - There is much better support for embedding, including threads,
- multiple interpreters(!), uninitialization, and access to the global
- interpreter lock.
-
- - There is a -O option that removes SET_LINENO instructions, assert
- statements and code prefixed with ``if __debug__: ...''. (It still
- only makes a few percent difference, so don't get all worked up
- about this.)
-
- - The Grand Renaming is completed: all linker-visible symbols
- defined by Python now have a "Py" or "_Py" prefix, and the same is
- true for most macros and typedefs.
-
-If you previously downloaded 1.5b2, here are the most relevant changes
-since then (of course all known bugs have been fixed, leaks plugged,
-and quite a bit of documentation has been added -- including doc
-strings here and there). The full list of changes since 1.5b2 is
-presented at the end of the Misc/NEWS file.
-
- - Thanks to all who contributed doc strings or other documentation!
-
- - Many small improvements to the quality of the documentation, both
- PostScript, HTML and even Emacs info (library manual only).
-
- - New module telnetlib.py.
-
- - New tool versioncheck.
-
- - Two bugs with ftp URLs fixed in urllib.py.
-
- - Fixed infinite recursion when printing __builtins__.
-
- - A bunch of small problems fixed in Tkinter.py.
-
- - Ported zlibmodule.c and bsddbmodule.c to NT.
-
- - Better NT support in tempfile.py.
-
- - Fixed 4294967296==0.
-
- - Latest re and pcre modules (versions of Dec. 22).
+One big organizational change: the documentation sources have been
+unbundled. We will release a version of the Doc subtree separately,
+but probably not simultaneously with the source release.
If you don't read instructions