Re: Python policy proposed changes

["Martin v. Löwis" <martin@v.loewis.de>]

Josselin Mouette wrote:
> Apart from a typo and the FSF address, the changes are about which
> packaging variants are mandated, recommending to provide only one
> python-foo package for each module, except when depending applications
> mandate another python version.
>
> This way, we could enforce that policy during the transition, removing
> hundreds of cruft python2.X-foo packages.

I don't like this policy. the python2.X-foo are not at all cruft; they
provide a useful feature.

With the multi-version build, you can support Python versions more 
recent than the default python version, which is useful for people
who would like to use more recent versions: they don't have to rebuild
all their extension modules themselves.

It also simplifies the transition from one Python version to the next:
people can build and test their packages against newer versions long
before Debian updates the default. That way, when the default version
changes, they just have to turn a switch in the default package. This
reduces the amount of work necessary in the transition phase itself.

Of course, supporting versions older than the default version is rarely
needed, except when there are applications that require such older
versions. So when 2.4 becomes the default, only 2.4 (and perhaps 2.5)
packages should be built.

Regards,
Martin