291 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
291 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
PEP: 4
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Title: Deprecation of Standard Modules
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Version: $Revision$
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Last-Modified: $Date$
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Author: Martin von Löwis <martin@v.loewis.de>
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Status: Active
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Type: Process
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Content-Type: text/x-rst
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Created: 1-Oct-2000
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Post-History:
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Introduction
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============
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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 modules
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around is a burden on the maintainer, especially when there is no
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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 the
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standard Python library. Usage of a module may be 'deprecated', which
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means that it may be removed from a future Python release. The
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rationale for deprecating a module is also collected in this PEP. If
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the rationale turns out faulty, the module may become 'undeprecated'.
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Procedure for declaring a module deprecated
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===========================================
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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 change
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to the text of this PEP, which SHOULD be a patch posted to
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bugs.python.org.
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A proposal for deprecation of the module MUST include the date of the
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proposed deprecation and a rationale for deprecating it. In addition,
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the proposal MUST include a change to the documentation of the module;
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deprecation is indicated by saying that the module is "obsolete" or
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"deprecated". The proposal SHOULD include a patch for the module's
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source code to indicate deprecation there as well, by raising a
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DeprecationWarning. The proposal MUST include patches to remove any
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use of the deprecated module from the standard library.
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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 may
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ship without the deprecated modules.
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Procedure for declaring a module undeprecated
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=============================================
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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 may
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not exist anymore.
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If the rationale is faulty, again a change to this PEP's text MUST be
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submitted. This change MUST include the date of undeprecation and a
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rationale for undeprecation. Modules that are undeprecated under this
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procedure MUST be listed in this PEP for at least one major release of
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Python.
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Obsolete modules
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================
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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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cl, sv, timing
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All these modules have been declared as obsolete in Python 2.0, some
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even earlier.
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The following obsolete modules were removed in Python 2.5:
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addpack, cmp, cmpcache, codehack, dircmp, dump, find, fmt,
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grep, lockfile, newdir, ni, packmail, Para, poly,
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rand, reconvert, regex, regsub, statcache, tb, tzparse,
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util, whatsound, whrandom, zmod
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The following modules were removed in Python 2.6:
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gopherlib, rgbimg, macfs
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The following modules currently lack a DeprecationWarning:
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rfc822, mimetools, multifile
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Deprecated modules
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==================
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::
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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. Deprecation
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warning added in Python 2.6.
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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: Documented as deprecated since Python 2.5. Removed
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in Python 2.6.
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Module name: rgbimgmodule
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Rationale: In a 2001-04-24 c.l.py post, Jason Petrone mentions
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that he occasionally uses it; no other references to
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its use can be found as of 2003-11-19.
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Date: 1-Oct-2000
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated since Python 2.5. Removed
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in Python 2.6.
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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: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since
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Python 2.2.2.
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Module name: mimetools
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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: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since
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Python 2.2.2.
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Module name: MimeWriter
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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: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since
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Python 2.2.2. Raises a DeprecationWarning as of
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Python 2.6.
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Module name: mimify
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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: Documented as "deprecated since release 2.3" since
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Python 2.2.2. Raises a DeprecationWarning as of
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Python 2.6.
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Module name: rotor
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Rationale: Uses insecure algorithm.
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Date: 24-Apr-2003
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Documentation: The documentation has been removed from the library
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reference in Python 2.4.
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Module name: TERMIOS.py
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Rationale: The constants in this file are now in the 'termios' module.
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Date: 10-Aug-2004
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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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Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4.
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Module name: statcache
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Rationale: Using the cache can be fragile and error-prone;
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applications should just use os.stat() directly.
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Date: 10-Aug-2004
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Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since
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Python 2.2, but listing in this PEP was neglected.
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Removed from the library reference in Python 2.5.
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Module name: mpz
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Rationale: Third-party packages provide similiar features
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and wrap more of GMP's API.
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Date: 10-Aug-2004
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Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since
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Python 2.2, but listing in this PEP was neglected.
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Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4.
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Module name: xreadlines
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Rationale: Using 'for line in file', introduced in 2.3, is preferable.
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Date: 10-Aug-2004
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Documentation: This module has been documented as obsolete since
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Python 2.3, but listing in this PEP was neglected.
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Removed from the library reference in Python 2.4.
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Module name: multifile
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Rationale: Supplanted by the email package.
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Date: 21-Feb-2006
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.5.
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Module name: sets
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Rationale: The built-in set/frozenset types, introduced in
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Python 2.4, supplant the module.
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Date: 12-Jan-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.6.
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Module name: buildtools
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Rationale: Unknown.
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.3, but
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listing in this PEP was neglected. Raised a
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DeprecationWarning as of Python 2.6.
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Module name: cfmfile
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Rationale: Unknown.
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.4, but
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listing in this PEP was neglected. A
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DeprecationWarning was added in Python 2.6.
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Module name: macfs
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Rationale: Unknown.
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.3, but
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listing in this PEP was neglected. Removed in
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Python 2.6.
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Module name: md5
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Rationale: Replaced by the 'hashlib' module.
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.5, but
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listing in this PEP was neglected.
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DeprecationWarning raised as of Python 2.6.
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Module name: sha
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Rationale: Replaced by the 'hashlib' module.
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: Documented as deprecated as of Python 2.5, but
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listing in this PEP was neglected.
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DeprecationWarning added in Python 2.6.
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Module name: plat-freebsd2/IN and plat-freebsd3/IN
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Rationale: Platforms are obsolete (last released in 2000)
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Removed from 2.6
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Documentation: None
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Module name: plat-freebsd4/IN and possibly plat-freebsd5/IN
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Rationale: Platforms are obsolete/unsupported
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Date: 15-May-2007
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Remove from 2.7
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Documentation: None
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Deprecation of modules removed in Python 3.0
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============================================
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PEP 3108 lists all modules that have been removed from Python 3.0.
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They all are documented as deprecated in Python 2.6, and raise a
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DeprecationWarning if the -3 flag is activated.
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Undeprecated modules
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====================
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None.
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Copyright
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=========
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This document has been placed in the public domain.
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..
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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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sentence-end-double-space: t
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fill-column: 70
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coding: utf-8
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End:
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