Second, I am MYSTIFIED (there's no better word) that DC is in such a rush to REQUIRE the use of Python 2.1 for Zope 2.4, when we're still waiting for Py 2.1 final to even come out. Why put all your eggs in that basket, and why force the community to choose between changing to a bleeding-edge Python or retiring to a frozen Zope rev?
Does DC not realize that Python has OTHER applications besides Zope? and that for a given community site, changing Pythons might have unexpected side effects in systems whose developers are less gung-ho about rushing to 2.1 than DC is?
You may have more than one Python installation on a machine. This in no way forces you to move "all of your applications" to 2.1. The binary releases in particular make this drop-dead easy; they come with a bundled Python, and do not affect any other Python you may have in any way.
I thought I'd set my mind at ease by reading the wiki Brian referred to -- which is called "SupportPython21" although it should apparently have been named "RequirePython21" -- but all I could glean from their justifications was [1] it'll make i18n easier (wow, that's huge), [2] there's some other things with strings and such that "may" be useful, and [3] of course there's a raft of other potentially disruptive differences, but hey, at least we found a way to make i18n easier!
You've correctly pointed out that I have not captured all of the reasoning. I'll try to correct that in the project docs. And note that Zope is a pretty diverse community - just because i18n is not very important to _you_ does not mean it is not important. There are plenty who consider it hugely significant, and who are at least as perturbed that we _haven't_ done this yet.
Instead, for the sake of being able to let the Python developers stick a Zope logo on the 2.1 release, we are risking a boatload of trouble.
I'm curious where you came up with that assertion - the PythonLabs guys have had absolutely nothing to do with this.
On the basis of prior performance I do not expect this objection to make any difference in what DC does, but I needed to express it anyway.
You may find that making your objections in a less inflammatory way will give them more impact. We are all for public debate - that is why we are doing this in the open, in a public project area on dev.zope.org. Brian Lloyd brian@digicool.com Software Engineer 540.371.6909 Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com