Added PEP 4, Deprecation of Standard Modules, Martin von Loewis

pep-0000.txt

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Index
  I     1  pep-0001.txt  PEP Guidelines                         Warsaw, Hylton
  I     2  pep-0002.txt  Procedure for Adding New Modules       Raymond
  I     3  pep-0003.txt  Guidelines for Handlng Bug Reports     Hylton
+ I     4  pep-0004.txt  Deprecation of Standard Modules        von Loewis
  I    42  pep-0042.txt  Small Feature Requests                 Hylton
 
  I   160  pep-0160.txt  Python 1.6 Release Schedule            Drake
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ Owners
     Kuchling, Andrew         akuchlin@mems-exchange.org
     Lemburg, Marc-Andre      mal@lemburg.com
     Lielens, Gregory         gregory.lielens@fft.be
+    von Loewis, Martin       loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de
     McMillan, Gordon         gmcm@hypernet.com
     Peters, Tim              tpeters@beopen.com
     Prescod, Paul            paul@prescod.net

pep-0004.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+PEP: 4
+Title: Deprecation of Standard Modules
+Version: $Revision$
+Author: Martin v. Loewis <loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de>
+Status: Active
+Type: Informational
+Created: 1-Oct-2000
+
+Introduction
+
+    When new modules where added to the standard Python library in the
+    past, it was not possible to foresee whether they would still be
+    useful in the future.  Even though Python "Comes With Batteries
+    Included", batteries may discharge over time.  Carrying old
+    modules around is a burden on the maintainer, especially when
+    there is no interest in the module anymore.
+
+    At the same time, removing a module from the distribution is
+    difficult, as it is not known in general whether anybody is still
+    using it.  This PEP defines a procedure for removing modules from
+    the standard Python library.  Usage of a module may be
+    `deprecated', which means that it may be removed from a future
+    Python release.  The rationale for deprecating a module is also
+    collected in this PEP.  If the rationale turns out faulty, the
+    module may become `undeprecated'.
+
+
+Procedure for declaring a module deprecated
+
+    Since the status of module deprecation is recorded in this PEP,
+    proposals for deprecating modules MUST be made by providing a
+    change to the text of this PEP, which SHOULD be a patch posted to
+    SourceForge, or sent by mail to the author of this PEP.
+
+    A proposal for deprecation of the module MUST include the date of
+    the proposed deprecation and a rationale for deprecating it.  In
+    addition, the proposal MUST include a change to the documentation
+    of the module; deprecation is indicated by saying that the module
+    is "obsolete" or "deprecated".  The proposal MAY include a patch
+    for the module's source code to indicate deprecation there as
+    well.
+
+    It is expected that deprecated modules are included in the Python
+    releases that immediately follows the deprecation; later releases
+    may ship without the deprecated modules.
+
+
+Procedure for declaring a module undeprecated
+
+    When a module becomes deprecated, a rationale is given for its
+    deprecation.  In some cases, an alternative interface for the same
+    functionality is provided, so the old interface is deprecated.  In
+    other cases, the need for having the functionality of the module
+    may not exist anymore.
+
+    If the rationale is faulty, again a change to this PEP's text MUST
+    be submitted.  This change MUST include the date of undeprecation
+    and a rationale for undeprecation.  Modules that are undeprecated
+    under this procedure MUST be listed in this PEP for at least one
+    major release of Python.
+
+
+Obsolete modules
+
+    A number of modules are already listed as obsolete in the library
+    documentation.  These are listed here for completeness.
+
+    addpack, cmp, cmpcache, codehack, dircmp, dump, fmt, lockfile,
+    newdir, Para, poly, regex, regsub, tb, timing, util, whatsound,
+    tzmod, find, grep, packmail, ni, rand, soundex, cl, sv
+
+    All these modules have been declared as obsolete in Python 2.0,
+    some even earlier.
+
+
+Deprecated modules
+
+    Module name:   posixfile
+    Rationale:     Locking is better done by fcntl.lockf().
+    Date:          Before 1-Oct-2000.
+    Documentation: Already documented as obsolete.
+
+    Module name:   gopherlib
+    Rationale:     The gopher protocol is not in active use anymore.
+    Date:          1-Oct-2000.
+    Documentation: TBD
+
+    Module name:   audioop
+    Rationale:     The module is not actively being used, no mentioning
+                   of it was found on deja.com on Oct-1-2000.
+    Date:          1-Oct-2000
+    Documentation: TBD
+
+    Module name:   rgbimgmodule
+    Rationale:     The module is not actively being used, no mentioning
+                   of it was found on deja.com on Oct-1-2000.
+    Date:          1-Oct-2000
+    Documentation: TBD
+
+
+Undeprecated modules
+
+    None.
+
+
+
+Local Variables:
+mode: indented-text
+indent-tabs-mode: nil
+End: