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Re: [PATCH] Third try at documenting command integration requirements.

From
Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
Date
Nov 27, 2012, 17:56 UTC
Message-ID
<20121127175618.GA11845@thyrsus.com>
In-Reply-To
<50B4A8E1.7050801@alum.mit.edu>
Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>:
> OK, now let's discuss *which* minimum Python version that git should
> support in the hypothetical new world...
By all means!
 
> It would be a shame to leave RHEL 5 users behind if Python is used to
> implement important git functionality.  Python 2.4 is missing some of
> Python's shiny new features, but still quite OK.  What features would
> you miss the most if we were to target Python 2.4 instead of 2.6?

Off the top of my head...the 'with' statement, the conditional expression, and built-in JSON support. Other developers would be likely to kick about the string format() method; personally I'm cheerfully old-school about that.

I agree that 2.4 is still quite OK. I'm a little concerned that dropping that far back might store up some transition problems for the day we decide to make the jump to Python 3.

On the other hand, I think gating features on RHEL5 might be excessively cautious. According to [1], RHEL will red-zone within 30 days if it hasn't done so already ([1] says "Q4"). And RHEL6 (with Python 2.6) has been shipping for two years.

Policy suggestion: we aim to stay friendly for every version of RHEL that is still in Support 1. I doubt anyone will code anything critical in Python before Dec 31st - I'm certainly not planning to!

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux RHEL5 is going
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>
Previous: Michael HaggertyNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 6 of 10 in “Third try at documenting command integration requirements.”
  1. Third try at documenting command integration requirements.Eric S. Raymond, Nov 26, 2012
  2. Perry HutchisonNov 26, 2012
  3. Junio C HamanoNov 26, 2012
  4. Eric S. RaymondNov 26, 2012
  5. Michael HaggertyNov 27, 2012
  6. Eric S. RaymondNov 27, 2012
  7. Junio C HamanoNov 28, 2012
  8. Eric S. RaymondNov 28, 2012
  9. Junio C HamanoNov 26, 2012
  10. Eric S. RaymondNov 26, 2012

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