PEP: 4 Title: Deprecation of Standard Modules Version: $Revision$ Author: Martin v. Loewis Status: Active Type: Informational Created: 1-Oct-2000 Introduction When new modules were 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. cl, sv, timing All these modules have been declared as obsolete in Python 2.0, some even earlier. The following obsolte modules were removed in Python 2.5: addpack, cmp, cmpcache, codehack, dircmp, dump, find, fmt, grep, lockfile, newdir, ni, packmail, Para, poly, rand, reconvert, regex, regsub, statcache, tb, tzparse, util, whatsound, whrandom, zmod 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: Documented as deprecated since Python 2.5. Module name: rgbimgmodule Rationale: In a 2001-04-24 c.l.py post, Jason Petrone mentions that he occasionally uses it; no other references to its use can be found as of 2003-11-19. Date: 1-Oct-2000 Documentation: Documented as deprecated since Python 2.5. Module name: pre Rationale: The underlying PCRE engine doesn't support Unicode, and has been unmaintained since Python 1.5.2. Date: 10-Apr-2002 Documentation: It was only mentioned as an implementation detail, and never had a section of its own. This mention has now been removed. Module name: whrandom Rationale: The module's default seed computation was inherently insecure; the random module should be used instead. Date: 11-Apr-2002 Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since Python 2.1, but listing in this PEP was neglected. The deprecation warning will be added to the module one year after Python 2.3 is released, and the module will be removed one year after that. Module name: rfc822 Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package. Date: 18-Mar-2002 Documentation: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since Python 2.2.2. Module name: mimetools Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package. Date: 18-Mar-2002 Documentation: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since Python 2.2.2. Module name: MimeWriter Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package. Date: 18-Mar-2002 Documentation: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since Python 2.2.2. Module name: mimify Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package. Date: 18-Mar-2002 Documentation: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since Python 2.2.2. Module name: rotor Rationale: Uses insecure algorithm. Date: 24-Apr-2003 Documentation: The documentation has been removed from the library reference in Python 2.4. Module name: TERMIOS.py Rationale: The constants in this file are now in the 'termios' module. Date: 10-Aug-2004 Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since Python 2.1, but listing in this PEP was neglected. Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4. Module name: statcache Rationale: Using the cache can be fragile and error-prone; applications should just use os.stat() directly. Date: 10-Aug-2004 Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since Python 2.2, but listing in this PEP was neglected. Removed from the library reference in Python 2.5. Module name: mpz Rationale: Third-party packages provide similiar features and wrap more of GMP's API. Date: 10-Aug-2004 Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since Python 2.2, but listing in this PEP was neglected. Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4. Module name: xreadlines Rationale: Using 'for line in file', introduced in 2.3, is preferable. Date: 10-Aug-2004 Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since Python 2.3, but listing in this PEP was neglected. Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4. Module name: multifile Rationale: Supplanted by the email package. Date: 21-Feb-2006 Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.5. Undeprecated modules None. Local Variables: mode: indented-text indent-tabs-mode: nil End: