Python 3

[Ben Finney]

Robert Collins <robertc at robertcollins.net> writes:

> On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Ben Finney <ben+bazaar at benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> > Why not simply use Python 2's “u'foo'” syntax?
>
> It is incompatible with the Python 3 parser.

I thought the agreement was that the code base shouldn't try to target
Python 2 and Python 3 simultaneously? That's certainly the
recommendation from the Python folks.

> > This doesn't entail maintaining two separate code bases: rather the
> > Python 2 code base is what gets maintained. A run of ‘2to3’ followed by
> > the full test suite run under Python 3 can be an indicator of how ready
> > the code base is for Python 3.
>
> Modulo:
>  - 2to3 limits and issues
>  - users with unknown versions of 2to3
>  - every distro out there

I'm not suggesting that Bazaar users do the conversion. Rather, that
those automated tools are a way for the Bazaar developers to measure how
close the code base is to being ready for the switch to Python 3.

> Because 2to3 is not complete, and structuring 'work with Python3' as a
> cutover event - 'switch to 3 only when its ready' does not fit in with
> the evolutionary approach we've taken to supporting Python 2.5, then
> 2.6, and 2.7 now.
>
> Cutover transitions are harsh, slower than expected, dilute community
> support, leave users behind unnecessarily.

Well, I disagree with the direction, but I respect that it's not my
workload being increased.

-- 
 \     “Unix is an operating system, OS/2 is half an operating system, |
  `\    Windows is a shell, and DOS is a boot partition virus.” —Peter |
_o__)                                                        H. Coffin |
Ben Finney