PEP submission broken?

B

Bryan Olson

Though I tried to submit a (pre-) PEP in the proper form through the proper
channels, it has disappeared into the ether.


In building a class that supports Python's slicing interface,

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/8f35464483aa7d7b

I encountered a Python bug, which, upon further discussion, seemed to be
a combination of a wart and a documentation error.


http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/402d770b6f503c27

I submitted the bug report via SourceForge; the resolution was to document
the actual behavior. Next I worked out what behavior I think would
eliminate
the wart, wrote it up as a pre-PEP, and sent it (e-mail address removed) on 27 Aug of
this year.

I promptly received an automated response from Barry Warsaw, saying, in
part,
"I get so much email that I can't promise a personal response." I
gathered that
he is a PEP editor. I did not infer from his reply that PEP's are simply
ignored, but
this automated reply was the only response I ever received. I subscribed
to the
Python-dev list, and watched, and waited; nothing on my concern appeared.


One response on the comp.lang.python newsgroup noted that a popular
extention module would have difficulty maintaining consistency with my
proposed PEP. My proposal does not break how the extension currently
works, but still, that's a valid point. There are variations which do
not have
that problem, and I think I can see a course that will serve the entire
Python community. From what I can tell, We need to address fixing the
PEP process before there is any point in working on PEP's,
 
S

Steve Holden

Bryan said:
Though I tried to submit a (pre-) PEP in the proper form through the proper
channels, it has disappeared into the ether.


In building a class that supports Python's slicing interface,

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/8f35464483aa7d7b

I encountered a Python bug, which, upon further discussion, seemed to be
a combination of a wart and a documentation error.


http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_frm/thread/402d770b6f503c27

I submitted the bug report via SourceForge; the resolution was to document
the actual behavior. Next I worked out what behavior I think would
eliminate
the wart, wrote it up as a pre-PEP, and sent it (e-mail address removed) on 27 Aug of
this year.

I promptly received an automated response from Barry Warsaw, saying, in
part,
"I get so much email that I can't promise a personal response." I
gathered that
he is a PEP editor. I did not infer from his reply that PEP's are simply
ignored, but
this automated reply was the only response I ever received. I subscribed
to the
Python-dev list, and watched, and waited; nothing on my concern appeared.


One response on the comp.lang.python newsgroup noted that a popular
extention module would have difficulty maintaining consistency with my
proposed PEP. My proposal does not break how the extension currently
works, but still, that's a valid point. There are variations which do
not have
that problem, and I think I can see a course that will serve the entire
Python community. From what I can tell, We need to address fixing the
PEP process before there is any point in working on PEP's,
It would seem that your PEP has failed to grab the attention of the
developers. Since August there have been quite a few PEP changes. What
response are you expecting from the PEP editor?

In this case I would suggest you might email Barry to see whether he has
taken any action on the pre-PEP, or that a post to python-dev simply
inquiring whether anyone has read the pre-PEP might be appropriate.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat this situation as
accidental rather than deliberate. Two months is a long time to wait, so
maybe you should have asked about this rather sooner. Volunteers don't
always behave as perfect bureaucrats :)

regards
Steve
 

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