[ZODB-Dev] ZODB3 3.3 alpha 1 released

[Tim Peters]

The ZODB3 package provides a set of tools for using the Zope Object Database
(ZODB) in Python programs separately from Zope.

ZODB3 3.3a1 is an experimental version that is compatible with new-style
classes.  This version of ZODB currently works only with Python 2.3.  The
primary change is that ExtensionClass is gone:  the Persistent base class is
a regular Python type instead of an ExtensionClass type now.  As a result,
you should be able to use properties, descriptors, and other new Python
features with persistent objects.  Compatibility with other Python features
new in 2.2 is also improved, primarily that 3.3 BTree-based containers
participate in Python's newer iteration and __contains__ protocols.

These changes were largely backported from ZODB4, used in Zope3.
Development on ZODB4 has been suspended, and the intent is that the ZODB3
3.3 line will eventually be used in both Zope2 and Zope3.

The current release has a lot of rough edges, but we hope developers will
find it useful to give it a test drive.  We have not tested Persistent
objects that use properties or slots.  We expect that code with getattr or
setattr hooks will need to be written with care, probably using different
techniques than in earlier versions of ZODB.

A source tarball and Windows installer can be downloaded from:

    http://www.zope.org/Products/ZODB3.3/

The Windows installer was built with Python 2.3c1 (2.3. release candidate
1), which will be released later tonight.

Enjoy!