On 13.02.2015 13:30, Julian Foad wrote: > Andreas Stieger wrote: >> Branko Čibej wrote: >>> I've been looking at the ctypes-based Python bindings. They're barely >>> maintained; the only changes in the last two years seem to have been >>> minor tweaks to make the tests run. I'm also not aware of anyone using >>> them, or any packager bundling them. >>> >>> This was an interesting experiment, but I think it's time to face the >>> fact that it failed. >>> >>> If there are no objections, I propose to remove the ctypes-based >>> bindings from trunk (including all related configury and build system >>> support) before creating the 1.9 branch. >> openSUSE packages them in 1.8 but I am not aware of (people) users of this >> package, and I haven't seen other packages in the distribution using it. >> Somewhat indifferent. > I'd be glad to get rid of it, on the basis that it's very far from complete > and correct, and doesn't appear to be much used, and that there are > alternatives (mainly: swig-python, pysvn, subvertpy). > > However, there are probably people making good use of it. It's a bit harsh to > delete a feature completely, so close to release, with essentially no time > for users to hear and react. If I were a corporate user, with a team making > use of it, and it disappeared with essentially no notice, I would be sore. > Deprecating it first and then deleting it at the beginning of the next > development cycle would be much better. > > What is the benefit in deleting it from 1.9, compared with deleting it only > from trunk? Is there anything actively hurting us in keeping it around > longer, other than the universal burden that all extra code creates? > > I would suggest we deprecate it, make it not built by the default "build all > bindings" build rules, and give people one minor release in which to migrate > off it. Then delete it completely soon *after* branching/releasing 1.9. > > Perhaps we could contact the packager of the (one?) known distribution and > see what they can tell us? They might be glad to get rid of it, or they might > know of particular user groups relying on it.
Yes, you're right. FWIW, none of the bindings get built by default anyway, and you need special configury magic to enable ctypes-python. Let's leave it until after the 1.9 release then. -- Brane
