Marc-Andre Lemburg <m...@egenix.com> added the comment:
On 25.11.2020 10:39, Christian Heimes wrote: > >> It would be an interface to a file /etc/os-release >> that's common nowadays, just like /etc/lsb-release was some years >> ago. These things change too often to make the stdlib a good fit. >> I'm pretty sure distros will invent something new in 5 years which >> would then render the API mostly useless again. > > That's pointless speculation -- unless you found a fool-proof way to see into > the future. > > Where do you draw the line? Should the stdlib ignore any standard and API > that is less than 10 years old? 20 years? It's not pointless. The rate of change in the field is why this particular API did not work out in practice. It was working fine at the time I added it, but then quickly became unmaintainable. Note that I'm not saying it's a useless API. The main point is that such code is better placed into a PyPI package, where it can be updated more frequently and also in a safe way across Python versions. Additionally, such a package could provide normalization features, to make matching distros easier, even when the distros decide to change the way they are named, e.g. for marketing purposes. The distro package is doing a pretty good job at this. If you need this for tests in the stdlib, I'd suggest to add a helper to the test package to find the needed information for the platforms where you want to run platform dependent tests. For tests outside the stdlib, the distro package will do the job just fine. -- Marc-Andre Lemburg eGenix.com Professional Python Services directly from the Experts (#1, Nov 25 2020) >>> Python Projects, Coaching and Support ... https://www.egenix.com/ >>> Python Product Development ... https://consulting.egenix.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ ::: We implement business ideas - efficiently in both time and costs ::: eGenix.com Software, Skills and Services GmbH Pastor-Loeh-Str.48 D-40764 Langenfeld, Germany. CEO Dipl.-Math. Marc-Andre Lemburg Registered at Amtsgericht Duesseldorf: HRB 46611 https://www.egenix.com/company/contact/ https://www.malemburg.com/ ---------- _______________________________________ Python tracker <rep...@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue28468> _______________________________________ _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: https://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com