150 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
150 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
PEP: 4
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Title: Deprecation of Standard Modules
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Version: $Revision$
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Author: Martin v. Loewis <loewis@informatik.hu-berlin.de>
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Status: Active
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Type: Informational
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Created: 1-Oct-2000
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Introduction
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When new modules were added to the standard Python library in the
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past, it was not possible to foresee whether they would still be
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useful in the future. Even though Python "Comes With Batteries
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Included", batteries may discharge over time. Carrying old
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modules around is a burden on the maintainer, especially when
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there is no interest in the module anymore.
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At the same time, removing a module from the distribution is
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difficult, as it is not known in general whether anybody is still
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using it. This PEP defines a procedure for removing modules from
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the standard Python library. Usage of a module may be
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`deprecated', which means that it may be removed from a future
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Python release. The rationale for deprecating a module is also
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collected in this PEP. If the rationale turns out faulty, the
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module may become `undeprecated'.
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Procedure for declaring a module deprecated
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Since the status of module deprecation is recorded in this PEP,
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proposals for deprecating modules MUST be made by providing a
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change to the text of this PEP, which SHOULD be a patch posted to
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SourceForge, or sent by mail to the author of this PEP.
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A proposal for deprecation of the module MUST include the date of
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the proposed deprecation and a rationale for deprecating it. In
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addition, the proposal MUST include a change to the documentation
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of the module; deprecation is indicated by saying that the module
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is "obsolete" or "deprecated". The proposal MAY include a patch
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for the module's source code to indicate deprecation there as
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well.
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It is expected that deprecated modules are included in the Python
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releases that immediately follows the deprecation; later releases
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may ship without the deprecated modules.
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Procedure for declaring a module undeprecated
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When a module becomes deprecated, a rationale is given for its
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deprecation. In some cases, an alternative interface for the same
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functionality is provided, so the old interface is deprecated. In
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other cases, the need for having the functionality of the module
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may not exist anymore.
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If the rationale is faulty, again a change to this PEP's text MUST
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be submitted. This change MUST include the date of undeprecation
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and a rationale for undeprecation. Modules that are undeprecated
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under this procedure MUST be listed in this PEP for at least one
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major release of Python.
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Obsolete modules
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A number of modules are already listed as obsolete in the library
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documentation. These are listed here for completeness.
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addpack, cmp, cmpcache, codehack, dircmp, dump, fmt, lockfile,
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newdir, Para, poly, regex, regsub, tb, timing, util, whatsound,
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tzmod, find, grep, packmail, ni, rand, soundex, cl, sv
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All these modules have been declared as obsolete in Python 2.0,
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some even earlier.
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Deprecated modules
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Module name: posixfile
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Rationale: Locking is better done by fcntl.lockf().
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Date: Before 1-Oct-2000.
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Documentation: Already documented as obsolete.
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Module name: gopherlib
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Rationale: The gopher protocol is not in active use anymore.
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Date: 1-Oct-2000.
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: audioop
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Rationale: The module is not actively being used, no mentioning
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of it was found on deja.com on Oct-1-2000.
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Date: 1-Oct-2000
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: rgbimgmodule
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Rationale: The module is not actively being used, no mentioning
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of it was found on deja.com on Oct-1-2000.
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Date: 1-Oct-2000
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: pre
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Rationale: The underlying PCRE engine doesn't support Unicode, and
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has been unmaintained since Python 1.5.2.
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Date: 10-Apr-2002
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Documentation: It was only mentioned as an implementation detail,
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and never had a section of its own. This mention
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has now been removed.
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Module name: whrandom
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Rationale: The module's default seed computation was
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inherently insecure; the random module should be
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used instead.
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Date: 11-Apr-2002
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Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since
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Python 2.1, but listing in this PEP was neglected.
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The deprecation warning will be added to the module
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one year after Python 2.3 is released, and the
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module will be removed one year after that.
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Module name: rfc822
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Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package.
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Date: 18-Mar-2002
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: mimetools.py
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Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package.
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Date: 18-Mar-2002
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: MIMEWriter.py
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Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package.
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Date: 18-Mar-2002
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Documentation: TBD
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Module name: mimify.py
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Rationale: Supplanted by Python 2.2's email package.
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Date: 18-Mar-2002
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Documentation: TBD
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Undeprecated modules
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None.
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Local Variables:
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mode: indented-text
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indent-tabs-mode: nil
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End:
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