Request for Review: Shedskin (a Python-to-C++ compiler)

[Paul Boddie <paul@boddie.org.uk>]

Hello,

As I mentioned in the thread concerning Nuitka, I've been trying for a while 
to get Shedskin packaged for Debian, and I've sent the occasional RFS to the 
Mentors list, but I'd be interested to know if anyone is interested in taking 
this work further and/or sponsoring it. Here's the Mentors link:

http://mentors.debian.net/package/shedskin

And here's a link to the packaging itself:

http://hgweb.boddie.org.uk/shedskin-packaging/

Julian Taylor and Jakub Wilk have been very helpful in giving feedback and 
correcting my many packaging mistakes. D Haley also gave many suggestions in 
response to the ITP:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=564533

Although I don't really use Shedskin myself - I have too many other projects 
currently active, but have been meaning to use it a bit more - the software 
has made substantial progress towards being a widely applicable solution and 
can compile non-trivial programs, producing significant speed-ups. One fairly 
impressive example (that cannot unfortunately be distributed with Debian) is 
a Commodore 64 emulator:

http://shed-skin.blogspot.com/2011/06/shed-skin-08-programming-language.html

There are also indications that Shedskin is occupying a firm place in the 
range of solutions employed to increase the performance of Python-based 
software systems:

http://ianozsvald.com/2011/07/25/high-performance-python-tutorial-v0-2-from-europython-2011/

I intend to maintain the package as long as is necessary, although I would 
also be prepared to let a motivated Debian developer take over the 
responsibility for maintenance. My aim is primarily to make the inclusion of 
Shedskin into Debian as little work as possible for others.

Regards,

Paul