diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Misc')
| -rw-r--r-- | Misc/NEWS | 282 |
1 files changed, 273 insertions, 9 deletions
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@ What's new in this release? Below is a list of all relevant changes since the release 1.4, up till the release of 1.5a3. At the end is a list of changes made since -1.5a3 that will be in 1.5a4; this list is not yet complete and will be -merged with the main list later. +1.5a3 up to the release of 1.5a4. A note on attributions: while I have sprinkled some names throughout here, I'm grateful to many more people who remain anonymous. You may @@ -343,9 +342,10 @@ on platforms where this is not the native format. It uses uppercase format codes for unsigned integers of various sizes (always using Python long ints for 'I' and 'L'), 's' with a size prefix for strings, and 'p' for "Pascal strings" (with a leading length byte, included in -the size; blame Hannu Krosing). A prefix '>' forces big-endian data -and '<' forces little-endian data; these also select standard data -sizes and disable automatic alignment (use pad bytes as needed). +the size; blame Hannu Krosing; new in 1.5a4). A prefix '>' forces +big-endian data and '<' forces little-endian data; these also select +standard data sizes and disable automatic alignment (use pad bytes as +needed). - The array module supports uppercase format codes for unsigned data formats (like the struct module). @@ -971,12 +971,16 @@ make a separate announcement for the Mac specific source code and the binary distribution(s) when these are ready. +====================================================================== + + Fixed after 1.5a3 was released ------------------------------ The following changes have been made to the source base after the -release of 1.5a3. These need to be merged into their respective -categories for the next release. +release of 1.5a3. They still need to be sorted. They also need to be +merged into their respective categories for the final release, but +it's useful to have them separately during the alpha test cycle. - faqwiz.py: version 0.8; Recognize https:// as URL; <html>...</html> feature; better install instructions; removed faqmain.py (which was an @@ -991,6 +995,15 @@ function. - urllib.py: close the socket and temp file in URLopener.retrieve() so that multiple retrievals using the same connection work. +- All standard exceptions are now classes by default; use -X to make +them strings (for backward compatibility only). + +- There's a new standard exception hierarchy, defined in the standard +library module exceptions.py (which you never need to import +explicitly). See +http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/stdexceptions.html for +more info. + - Three new C API functions: - int PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches(obj1, obj2) @@ -1017,8 +1030,9 @@ that multiple retrievals using the same connection work. argument. If value is None, it uses an empty arg tuple, and if the value is a tuple, it uses just that. -- Demo/metaclasses: new demo subdir explains metaclasses (read -index.html in a browser). +- Another new C API function: PyErr_NewException() creates a new +exception class derived from Exception; when -X is given, it creates a +new string exception. - core interpreter: remove the distinction between tuple and list unpacking; allow an arbitrary sequence on the right hand side of any @@ -1153,3 +1167,253 @@ if it doesn't. The default defaults to None. This is quicker for some applications than using either has_key() or try:...except KeyError:.... +- Tools/webchecker/: some small changes to webchecker.py; added +websucker.py (a simple web site mirroring script). + +- Dictionary objects now have a get() method (also in UserDict.py). +dict.get(key, default) returns dict[key] if it exists and default +otherwise; default defaults to None. + +- Tools/scripts/logmerge.py: print the author, too. + +- Changes to import: support for "import a.b.c" is now built in. See +http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/packages.html +for more info. Most important deviations from "ni.py": __init__.py is +executed in the package's namespace instead of as a submodule; and +there's no support for "__" or "__domain__". Note that "ni.py" is not +changed to match this -- it is simply declared obsolete (while at the +same time, it is documented...:-( ). +Unfortunately, "ihooks.py" has not been upgraded (but see "knee.py" +for an example implementation of hierarchical module import written in +Python). + +- More changes to import: the site.py module is now imported by +default when Python is initialized; use -S to disable it. The site.py +module extends the path with several more directories: site-packages +inside the lib/python1.5/ directory, site-python in the lib/ +directory, and pathnames mentioned in *.pth files found in either of +those directories. See +http://grail.cnri.reston.va.us/python/essays/packages.html +for more info. + +- Changes to standard library subdirectory names: those subdirectories +that are not packages have been renamed with a hypen in their name, +e.g. lib-tk, lib-stdwin, plat-win, plat-linux2, plat-sunos5, dos-8x3. +The test suite is now a package -- to run a test, you must now use +"import test.test_foo". + +- A completely new re.py module is provided (thanks to Andrew +Kuchling) which uses Philip Hazel's "pcre" re compiler and engine. +For a while, the "old" re.py (which was new in 1.5a3!) will be kept +around as re1.py. The "old" regex module and underlying parser and +engine are still present -- while regex is now officially obsolete, it +will probably take several major release cycles before it can be +removed. + +- The posix module now has a strerror() function which translates an +error code to a string. + +- The emacs.py module (which was long obsolete) has been removed. + +- The universal makefile Misc/Makefile.pre.in now features an +"install" target. By default, installed shared libraries go into +$exec_prefix/lib/python$VERSION/site-packages/. + +- The install-sh script is installed with the other configuration +specific files (in the config/ subdirectory). + +- It turns out whatsound.py and sndhdr.py were identical modules. +Since there's also an imghdr.py file, I propose to make sndhdr.py the +official one. For compatibility, whatsound.py imports * from +sndhdr.py. + +- Class objects have a new attribute, __module__, giving the name of +the module in which they were declared. This is useful for pickle and +for printing the full name of a class exception. + +- Many extension modules no longer issue a fatal error when their +initialization fails; the importing code now checks whether an error +occurred during module initialization, and correctly propagates the +exception to the import statement. + +- Most extension modules now raise class-based exceptions (except when +-X is used). + +- Subtle changes to PyEval_{Save,Restore}Thread(): always swap the +thread state -- just don't manipulate the lock if it isn't there. + +- Fixed a bug in Python/getopt.c that made it do the wrong thing when +an option was a single '-'. Thanks to Andrew Kuchling. + +- New module mimetypes.py will guess a MIME type from a filename's +extension. + +- Windows: the DLL version is now settable via a resource rather than +being hardcoded. This can be used for "branding" a binary Python +distribution. + +- urllib.py is now threadsafe -- it now uses re instead of regex, and +sys.exc_info() instead of sys.exc_{type,value}. + +- Many other library modules that used to use +sys.exc_{type,value,traceback} are now more thread-safe by virtue of +using sys.exc_info(). + +- The functions in popen2 have an optional buffer size parameter. +Also, the command argument can now be either a string (passed to the +shell) or a list of arguments (passed directly to execv). + +- The thread support for _tkinter.c now works. The bad news is that +it requires a modified version of a file in the standard Tcl +distribution, which you must compile with a -I option pointing to the +standard Tcl source tree. For this reason, the thread support is +disabled by default. + +- The errno extension module adds two tables: errorcode maps errno +numbers to errno names (e.g. EINTR), and errorcode maps them to +message strings. (The latter is redundant because the new call +posix.strerror() now does the same, but alla...) (Marc-Andre Lemburg) + +- The readline extension module now provides some interfaces to +internal readline routines that make it possible to write a completer +in Python. An example completer, rlcompleter.py, is provided. + + When completing a simple identifier, it completes keywords, + built-ins and globals in __main__; when completing + NAME.NAME..., it evaluates (!) the expression up to the last + dot and completes its attributes. + + It's very cool to do "import string" type "string.", hit the + completion key (twice), and see the list of names defined by + the string module! + + Tip: to use the tab key as the completion key, call + + readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete") + +- The traceback.py module has a new function tb_lineno() by Marc-Andre +Lemburg which extracts the line number from the linenumber table in +the code object. Apparently the traceback object doesn't contains the +right linenumber when -O is used. Rather than guessing whether -O is +on or off, the module itself uses tb_lineno() unconditionally. + +- Fixed Demo/tkinter/matt/canvas-moving-or-creating.py: change bind() +to tag_bind() so it works again. + +- The pystone script is now a standard library module. Example use: +"import test.pystone; test.pystone.main()". + +- The import of the readline module in interactive mode is now also +attempted when -i is specified. (Yes, I know, giving in to Marc-Andre +Lemburg, who asked for this. :-) + +- rfc822.py: Entirely rewritten parseaddr() function by Sjoerd +Mullender, to be closer to the standard. This fixes the getaddr() +method. Unfortunately, getaddrlist() is as broken as ever, since it +splits on commas without regard for RFC 822 quoting conventions. + +- pprint.py: correctly emit trailing "," in singleton tuples. + +- _tkinter.c: export names for its type objects, TkappType and +TkttType. + +- pickle.py: use __module__ when defined; fix a particularly hard to +reproduce bug that confuses the memo when temporary objects are +returned by custom pickling interfaces; and a semantic change: when +unpickling the instance variables of an instance, use +inst.__dict__.update(value) instead of a for loop with setattr() over +the value.keys(). This is more consistent (the pickling doesn't use +getattr() either but pickles inst.__dict__) and avoids problems with +instances that have a __setattr__ hook. But it *is* a semantic change +(because the setattr hook is no longer used). So beware! + +- config.h is now installed (at last) in +$exec_prefix/include/python1.5/. For most sites, this means that it +is actually in $prefix/include/python1.5/, with all the other Python +include files, since $prefix and $exec_prefix are the same by +default. + +- The imp module now supports parts of the functionality to implement +import of hierarchical module names. It now supports find_module() +and load_module() for all types of modules. Docstrings have been +added for those functions in the built-in impo module that are still +relevant (some old interfaces are obsolete). For a sample +implementation of hierarchical module import in Python, see the new +library module knee.py. + +- The % operator on string objects now allows arbitrary nested parens +in a %(...)X style format. (Brad Howes) + +- Reverse the order in which Setup and Setup.local are passed to the +makesetup script. This allows variable definitions in Setup.local to +override definitions in Setup. (But you'll still have to edit Setup +if you want to disable modules that are enabled by default, or if such +modules need non-standard options.) + +- Added PyImport_ImportModuleEx(name, globals, locals, fromlist); this +is like PyImport_ImporModule(name) but receives the globals and locals +dict and the fromlist arguments as well. (The name is a char*; the +others are PyObject*s). + +- The 'p' format in the struct extension module alloded to above is +new in 1.5a4. + +- The xlib extension module has been debugged and improved. + +- The types.py module now uses try-except in a few places to make it +more likely that it can be imported in restricted mode. Some type +names are undefined in that case, e.g. CodeType (inaccessible), +FileType (not always accessible), and TracebackType and FrameType +(inaccessible). + +- In urllib.py: added separate administration of temporary files +created y URLopener.retrieve() so cleanup() can properly remove them. +The old code removed everything in tempcache which was a bad idea if +the user had passed a non-temp file into it. Also, in basejoin(), +interpret relative paths starting in "../". This is necessary if the +server uses symbolic links. + +- The Windows build procedure and project files are now based on +Microsoft Visual C++ 5.x. The build now takes place in the PCbuild +directory. It is much more robust, and properly builds separate Debug +and Release versions. (The installer will be added shortly.) + +- Added casts and changed some return types in regexpr.c to avoid +compiler warnings or errors on some platforms. + +- The AIX build tools for shared libraries now supports VPATH. (Donn +Cave) + +- By default, disable the "portable" multimedia modules audioop, +imageop, and rgbimg, since they don't work on 64-bit platforms. + +- Fixed a nasty bug in cStringIO.c when code was actually using the +close() method (the destructors would try to free certain fields a +second time). + +- For those who think they need it, there's a "user.py" module. This +is *not* imported by default, but can be imported to run user-specific +setup commands, ~/.pythonrc.py. + +- Various speedups suggested by Fredrik Lundh, Marc-Andre Lemburg, +Vladimir Marangozov, and others. + +- Added os.altsep; this is '/' on DOS/Windows, and None on systems +with a sane filename syntax. + +- os.py: Write out the dynamic OS choice, to avoid exec statements. +Adding support for a new OS is now a bit more work, but I bet that +'dos' or 'nt' will cover most situations... + +- The obsolete exception AccessError is now really gone. + +- Tools/faqwiz/: New installation instructions show how to maintain +multiple FAQs. Removed bootstrap script from end of faqwiz.py module. +Added instructions to bootstrap script, too. Version bumped to 0.8. +Added <html>...</html> feature suggested by Skip Montanaro. Added +leading text for Roulette, default to 'Hit Reload ...'. Fix typo in +default SRCDIR. + +- Documentation for the relatively new modules "keyword" and "symbol" +has been added (to the end of the section on the parser extension +module). |