diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Misc/NEWS')
| -rw-r--r-- | Misc/NEWS | 398 |
1 files changed, 296 insertions, 102 deletions
@@ -17,55 +17,32 @@ credit, let me know and I'll add you to the list! From 1.5.1 to 1.5.2a1 ===================== -General/Miscellaneous ---------------------- - -- All patches on the patch page have been integrated. (But much more -has been done!) - -- Several memory leaks plugged (e.g. the one for classes with a -__getattr__ method). - -- Better checks for invalid input to int(), long(), string.atoi(), -string.atol(). (Formerly, a sign without digits would be accepted as -a legal ways to spell zero.) - -- New standard exceptions EnvironmentError and PosixError; -EnvironmentError is the base class for IOError and PosixError; -PosixError is the same as os.error. All this so that either exception -class can be instantiated with a third argument indicating a filename. -The built-in function open() and most os/posix functions that take a -filename argument now use this. +General +------- - When searching for the library, a landmark that is a compiled module (string.pyc or string.pyo) is also accepted. -- Removed the only use of calloc(). This triggered an obscure bug on -multiprocessor Sparc Solaris 2.6. +- When following symbolic links to the python executable, use a loop +so that a symlink to a symlink can work. -- Changes to map() and filter() to use the length of a sequence only -as a hint -- if an IndexError happens earlier, take that. (Formerly, -this was considered an error.) - -- Instance methods may now have other callable objects than just -Python functions as their im_func. Use new.instancemethod() or write -your own C code to create them; new.instancemethod() may be called -with None for the instance to create an unbound method. - -- Assignment to __dict__ or __bases__ of a class object is now -allowed (with stringent type checks). The cached values for -__getattr__ etc. are recomputed after such assignments (but not for -derived classes :-( ). +- Added a hack so that when you type 'quit' or 'exit' at the +interpreter, you get a friendly explanation of how to press Ctrl-D (or +Ctrl-Z) to exit. - New and improved Misc/python-mode.el (Python mode for Emacs). -- New, better performing sort() method for list objects. +Miscellaneous fixed bugs +------------------------ -- List objects now have an experimental pop() method; l.pop() returns -and removes the last item; l.pop(i) returns and removes the item at i. +- All patches on the patch page have been integrated. (But much more +has been done!) -- Experimental feature in getattr(): a third argument can specify a -default (instead of raising AttributeError). +- Several memory leaks plugged (e.g. the one for classes with a +__getattr__ method). + +- Removed the only use of calloc(). This triggered an obscure bug on +multiprocessor Sparc Solaris 2.6. Documentation ------------- @@ -80,31 +57,91 @@ time, thread, sys, __builtin__. Also to methods of list objects (try propagated to an instance if the instance has methods that are accessed in the usual way. -Ports ------ +- Added Misc/Porting -- a mini-FAQ on porting to a new platform. + +Ports and build procedure +------------------------- - The BeOS port is now integrated. Courtesy Chris Herborth. - Symbol files for FreeBSD 2.x and 3.x have been contributed (Lib/plat-freebsd[23]/*). -Windows -------- +- Support HPUX 10.20 DCE threads. -- The project files have been moved so they are distributed in the -same subdirectory (PCbuild) where they must be used; this avoids -confusion. +- Finally fixed the configure script so that (on SGI) if -OPT:Olimit=0 +works, it won't also use -Olimit 1500 (which gives a warning for every +file). Also support the SGI_ABI environment variable better. -- New project files for Windows 3.1 port by Jim Ahlstrom. +- Other miscellaneous improvements to the configure script and +Makefiles. -- Got rid of the obsolete subdirectory PC/setup_nt/. +- The makesetup script now understands absolute pathnames ending in .o +in the module -- it assumes it's a file for which we have no source. -- os.environ is now all uppercase, but accesses are case insensitive. +- The test suite now uses a different sound sample. -- Don't insist on proper case for module source files if the filename -is all uppercase (e.g. FOO.PY now matches foo; but FOO.py still -doesn't). This should address problems with this feature on -oldfashioned filesystems (Novell servers?). +Built-in functions and exceptions +--------------------------------- + +- Better checks for invalid input to int(), long(), string.atoi(), +string.atol(). (Formerly, a sign without digits would be accepted as +a legal ways to spell zero.) + +- New standard exceptions EnvironmentError and PosixError; +EnvironmentError is the base class for IOError and PosixError; +PosixError is the same as os.error. All this so that either exception +class can be instantiated with a third argument indicating a filename. +The built-in function open() and most os/posix functions that take a +filename argument now use this. + +- Changes to map() and filter() to use the length of a sequence only +as a hint -- if an IndexError happens earlier, take that. (Formerly, +this was considered an error.) + +- Experimental feature in getattr(): a third argument can specify a +default (instead of raising AttributeError). + +- Implement round() slightly different, so that for negative ndigits +no additional errors happen in the last step. + +Built-in types and statements +----------------------------- + +- Changes to comparisons: numbers now compare smaller than any other +type. This is done to prevent the circularity where [] < 0L < 1 < [] +is true. As a side effect, cmp(None, 0) is now positive instead of +negative. This *shouldn't* affect any working code, but I've found +that the change caused several "sleeping" bugs to become active, so +beware! + +- Instance methods may now have other callable objects than just +Python functions as their im_func. Use new.instancemethod() or write +your own C code to create them; new.instancemethod() may be called +with None for the instance to create an unbound method. + +- Assignment to __name__, __dict__ or __bases__ of a class object is +now allowed (with stringent type checks); also allow assignment to +__getattr__ etc. The cached values for __getattr__ etc. are +recomputed after such assignments (but not for derived classes :-( ). + +- New, better performing sort() method for list objects. + +- List objects now have an experimental pop() method; l.pop() returns +and removes the last item; l.pop(i) returns and removes the item at +i. Also, the sort() method is faster again. Sorting is now also +safer: it is impossible for the sorting function to modify the list +while the sort is going on (this could cause core dumps). + +- Fix a bug in the overflow checking when converting a Python long to +a C long (failed to convert -2147483648L, and other spurious bugs). + +- Allow assignment to some attributes of function objects: func_code, +func_defaults and func_doc / __doc__. (With type checks except for +__doc__ / func_doc .) + +- Fix a peculiar bug that would allow "import sys.time" to succeed +(believing the built-in time module to be a part of the sys package). Library modules --------------- @@ -113,9 +150,11 @@ Library modules sortperf.py (list sorting benchmark), test_MimeWriter.py (test case for the MimeWriter module). -- Changes to os.py: os.environ now upcases keys before storing them on -Windows, DOS and OS/2; new functions makedirs(), removedirs(), -renames(). +- New functions in os.py: makedirs(), removedirs(), renames(). New +variable: linesep (the line separator as found in binary files, +i.e. '\n' on Unix, '\r\n' on DOS/Windows, '\r' on Mac. Do *not* use +this with files opened in (default) text mode; the line separator used +will always be '\n'! - Changes to the 'os.path' submodule of os.py: added getsize(), getmtime(), getatime() -- these fetch the most popular items from the @@ -134,26 +173,32 @@ problem that randint() was accidentally defined as taking an inclusive range. Also, randint(a, b) is now redefined as randrange(a, b+1), adding extra range and type checking to its arguments! +- Add some semi-thread-safety to random.gauss() (it used to be able to +crash when invoked from separate threads; now the worst it can do is +give a duplicate result occasionally). + - In getpass.py, don't use raw_input() to ask for the password -- we -don't want it to show up in the readline history! +don't want it to show up in the readline history! Also don't catch +interrupts (the try-finally already does all necessary cleanup). - Generalized test/regrtest.py so that it is useful for testing other packages. -- Some small changes in urllib.py; sped up unquote() and quote(), -fixed an obscure bug in quote_plus(). Added urlencode(dict) -- -convenience function for sending a POST request with urlopen(). -Rewrote the (test) main program so that when used as a script, it can -retrieve one or more URLs to stdout. Use -t to run the self-test. +- Changes in urllib.py; sped up unquote() and quote(). Fixed an +obscure bug in quote_plus(). Added urlencode(dict) -- convenience +function for sending a POST request with urlopen(). Use the getpass +module to ask for a password. Rewrote the (test) main program so that +when used as a script, it can retrieve one or more URLs to stdout. +Use -t to run the self-test. Made the proxy code work again. - In pdb.py, support for setting breaks on files/modules that haven't been loaded yet. -- In rfc822.py, fix tell/seek when using files opened in text mode on -Windows. Also add a new class AddressList. - -- In mailbox.py, fix tell/seek when using files opened in text mode on -Windows. +- In rfc822.py, add a new class AddressList. Also support a new +overridable method, isheader(). Also add a get() method similar to +dictionaries (and make getheader() an alias for it). Also, be smarter +about seekable (test whether fp.tell() works) and test for presence of +unread() method before trying seeks. - Some speedups to re.py, especially the string substitution and split functions. Also added new function/method findall(), to find all @@ -164,7 +209,9 @@ sys.exc_info(). Also made the (test) main program a bit fancier (you can now use it to run arbitrary Python scripts in restricted mode). - In sgmllib.py, restore the call to report_unbalanced() that was lost -long ago. +long ago. Also some other improvements: handle <? processing +instructions >, allow . and - in entity names, and allow \r\n as line +separator. - Major upgrade to ConfigParser.py; converted to using 're', added new exceptions, support underscore in section header and option name. No @@ -176,8 +223,12 @@ longer add 'name' option to every section; instead, add '__name__'. - Some restructuring and generalization done to multifile.py. -- In cgi.py, treat "HEAD" the same as "GET", so that CGI scripts don't -fail when someone asks for their HEAD. +- In cgi.py, treat "HEAD" the same as "GET", so that CGI scripts don't +fail when someone asks for their HEAD. Also, for POST, set the +default content-type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded. Also, in +FieldStorage.__init__(), when method='GET', always get the query +string from environ['QUERY_STRING'] or sys.argv[1] -- ignore an +explicitly passed in fp. - Improved imaplib.py. @@ -191,14 +242,55 @@ PythonInterpreter class. The interact() function now uses this. - In rlcompleter.py, in completer(), return None instead of raising an IndexError when there are no more completions left. +- In the string and strop modules, in the replace() function, treat an +empty pattern as an error (since it's not clear what was meant!). -Tkinter -------- +- The gzip.py module didn't work together with cPickle. Fixed. -- New demos in Demo/tkinter/guido/: brownian.py, redemo.py, switch.py. +- Fixed a small bug in CGIHTTPServer.py. -- No longer register Tcl_finalize() as a low-level exit handler. It -may call back into Python, and that's a bad idea. +- In whichdb.py, support byte-swapped dbhash (bsddb) files. + +- In anydbm.py, look at the type of an existing database to determine +which module to use to open it. (The anydbm.error exception is now a +tuple.) + +Extension modules +----------------- + +- In the socket module: new function gethostbyname_ex(). Also, don't +use #ifdef to test for some symbols that are enums on some platforms +(and should exist everywhere). + +- Added some of the "wait status inspection" macros as functions: +WEXITSTATUS(), WIFEXITED(), WIFSIGNALED(), WIFSTOPPED(), WSTOPSIG(), +WTERMSIG(). + +- In cStringIO, add better argument type checking and support the +readonly 'closed' attribute (like regular files). + +- In the struct module, unsigned 1-2 byte sized formats no longer +result in long integer values. + +- In the termios module, in tcsetattr(), initialize the structure vy +calling tcgetattr(). + +- In the time module, add strptime(), if it exists. (This parses a +time according to a format -- the inverse of strftime().) Also, +remove the call to mktime() from strftime() -- it messed up the +formatting of some non-local times. + +- Fixed the marshal module to test for certain common kinds of invalid +input. (It's still not foolproof!) + +- In the operator module, add an alias (now the preferred name) +"contains" for "sequenceincludes". + +- In the syslog module, make the default facility more intuitive +(matching the docs). + +Tkinter +------- - On Unix, Tkinter can now safely be used from a multi-threaded application. (Formerly, no threads would make progress while @@ -207,57 +299,136 @@ interpreter lock.) Unfortunately, on Windows, threads other than the main thread should not call update() or update_idletasks() because this will deadlock the application. +- An interactive interpreter that uses readline and Tkinter no longer +uses up all available CPU time. + +- Even if readline is not used, Tk windows created in an interactive +interpreter now get continuously updated. (This even works in Windows +as long as you don't hit a key.) + +- New demos in Demo/tkinter/guido/: brownian.py, redemo.py, switch.py. + +- No longer register Tcl_finalize() as a low-level exit handler. It +may call back into Python, and that's a bad idea. + - Allow binding of Tcl commands (given as a string). -- Some minor speedups. +- Some minor speedups; replace explicitly coded getint() with int() in +most places. -Extension modules ------------------ +- In FileDialog.py, remember the directory of the selected file, if +given. -- In the socket module: new function gethostbyname_ex(). +- Change the names of all methods in the Wm class: they are now +wm_title(), etc. The old names (title() etc.) are still defined as +aliases. -- Added some of the "wait status inspection" macros as functions: -WEXITSTATUS(), WIFEXITED(), WIFSIGNALED(), WIFSTOPPED(), WSTOPSIG(), -WTERMSIG(). +- Add a new method of interpreter objects, interpaddr(). This returns +the address of the Tcl interpreter object, as an integer. Not very +useful for the Python programmer, but this can be called by another C +extension that needs to make calls into the Tcl/Tk C API and needs to +get the address of the Tcl interpreter object. A simple cast of the +return value to (Tcl_Interp *) will do the trick. -- In cStringIO, add better argument type checking and support the -readonly 'closed' attribute (like regular files). +Windows +------- -- On Windows, in select, put the (huge) file descriptor arrays on the -heap. +- The registry key used is now "1.5" instead of "1.5.x" -- so future +versions of 1.5 and Mark Hammond's win32all installer don't need to be +resynchronized. -- In the struct module, unsigned 1-2 byte sized formats no longer -result in long integer values. +- The project files have been moved so they are distributed in the +same subdirectory (PCbuild) where they must be used; this avoids +confusion. -Build procedure ---------------- +- New project files for Windows 3.1 port by Jim Ahlstrom. -- Finally fixed the configure script so that (on SGI) if -OPT:Olimit=0 -works, it won't also use -Olimit 1500 (which gives a warning for every -file). +- Got rid of the obsolete subdirectory PC/setup_nt/. + +- os.environ is now all uppercase, but accesses are case insensitive. + +- Don't insist on proper case for module source files if the filename +is all uppercase (e.g. FOO.PY now matches foo; but FOO.py still +doesn't). This should address problems with this feature on +oldfashioned filesystems (Novell servers?). + +- Fixed os.pipe() so that it returns file descriptors acceptable to +os.read() and os.write() (like it does on Unix), rather than Windows +file handles. + +- In the select module, put the (huge) file descriptor arrays on the heap. + +- The getpass module now raises KeyboardInterrupt when it sees ^C. + +- Changes to os.py: os.environ now upcases keys before storing them on +Windows, DOS and OS/2. + +- In mailbox.py, fix tell/seek when using files opened in text mode. + +- In rfc822.py, fix tell/seek when using files opened in text mode. + +- Several improvements to freeze (mostly, but not exclusively for +Windows). -- Other miscellaneous improvements to the configure script. +- Moved the VC++ project files and the WISE installer script from PC +to PCbuild. -Tools ------ +- The projects now use distinct filenames for the .exe, .dll, .lib and +.pyd files built in debug mode (by appending "_d" to the base name, +before the extension). This makes it easier to switch between the two +and get the right versions. There's a pragma in config.h that directs +the linker to include the appropriate .lib file (so python15.lib no +longer needs to be explicit in your project). -- Some improvements to the freeze script. +- In the msvcrt extension module, release the interpreter lock for +calls that may block: _locking(), _getch(), _getche(). Also fix a +bogus error return when open_osfhandle() doesn't have the right +argument list. + +- Revert a new feature in Unix dynamic loading: for one or two +revisions, modules were loaded using the RTLD_GLOBAL flag. It turned +out to be a bad idea. + +- The installer now installs more files (e.g. config.h). The idea is +that you shouldn't need the source distribution if you want build your +own extensions in C or C++. + +- Fixed a very old bug in the parsing of "O?" format specifiers. + +- Added a table of WSA error codes to socket.py. + +- Removed samefile(), sameopenfile(), samestat() from os.path (aka +ntpath.py) -- these cannot be made to work reliably (at least I +wouldn't know how). + +Tools and Demos +--------------- + +- New script nm2def.py by Marc-Andre Lemburg, to construct +PC/python_nt.def automatically (some hand editing still required). - New tool ndiff.py: Tim Peters' text diffing tool. +- Various and sundry improvements to the freeze script. + - The script texi2html.py (which was part of the Doc tree but is no longer used there) has been moved to the Tools/scripts subdirectory. - Some generalizations in the webchecker code. There's now a primnitive gui for websucker.py: wsgui.py. (In Tools/webchecker/.) -- Some improvements to freeze (made it more robust on Windows). +- The ftpmirror.py script now handles symbolic links properly, and +also files with multiple spaces in their names. -- The ftpmirror.py script now handles symbolic links properly. +- The 1.5.1 tabnanny.py suffers an assert error if fed a script whose +last line is both indented and lacks a newline. This is now fixed. Python/C API ------------ +- Added missing prototypes for PyEval_CallFunction() and +PyEval_CallMethod(). + - New APIs for conversion between Python longs and C 'long long' if your compiler supports it. @@ -267,7 +438,7 @@ Py_SetPythonHome(), makes it easier for embedding applications to change the notion of Python's "home" directory (where the libraries etc. are sought). -- Changes to PySequence_Tuple() and PySequence_List() to use the +- Changes to PySequence_Tuple() and PySequence_Lis(t) to use the length of a sequence only as a hint -- if an IndexError happens earlier, take that. (Formerly, this was considered an error.) @@ -281,6 +452,31 @@ dynamically add one or many entries to the table of built-in modules. Py_InitModule4() with appropriate arguments. (The -4 variant requires you to pass an obscure version number constant which is always the same.) +- Reformatted abstract.c to give it a more familiar "look" and fixed +many error checking bugs. + +- Add NULL pointer checks to all calls of a C function through a type +object and extensions (e.g. nb_add). + +- PySequence_In() is now called PySequence_Contains(). +(PySequence_In() is still supported for b/w compatibility; it is +declared obsolete because its argument order is confusing.) + +- PyDict_GetItem() and PyDict_GetItemString() are changed so that they +*never* raise an exception -- (even if the hash() fails, simply clear +the error). This was necessary because there is lots of code out +there that already assumes this. + +- New APIs PySys_WriteStdout() and PySys_WriteStderr() to write to +sys.stdout or sys.stderr using a printf-like interface. (Used in +_tkinter.c, for example.) + +- New macro PyList_SET_ITEM(). + + +====================================================================== + + From 1.5 to 1.5.1 ================= @@ -666,7 +862,6 @@ It can be disabled on a per-case basis by setting the environment variable PYTHONCASEOK (to any value). - ====================================================================== @@ -1399,7 +1594,6 @@ using sys.exc_info(). Also, the command argument can now be either a string (passed to the shell) or a list of arguments (passed directly to execv). - - Alas, the thread support for _tkinter released with 1.5a3 didn't work. It's been rewritten. The bad news is that it now requires a modified version of a file in the standard Tcl distribution, which you |