Mailing List Archive: Python: Python

Downloading alpha releases; a good idea?

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jessw at loop

Aug 23, 2001, 12:12 PM

Post #1 of 5 (455 views)
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Downloading alpha releases; a good idea?

I am a hobby user of Python.
How unstable are alpha releases? I now have Python 2.0 and am
thinking about updating. Should I go to 2.1(.1, of course), wait for
2.2 final, or get 2.2.a2 which is out now? And if I go with 2.1.1
should I update to 2.2 final when it comes out?

Any comments would be appreciated,
Jesse W

ignacio at openservices

Aug 23, 2001, 12:33 PM

Post #2 of 5 (454 views)
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Downloading alpha releases; a good idea? [In reply to]

On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Jesse W wrote:

> I am a hobby user of Python.
> How unstable are alpha releases? I now have Python 2.0 and am
> thinking about updating. Should I go to 2.1(.1, of course), wait for
> 2.2 final, or get 2.2.a2 which is out now? And if I go with 2.1.1
> should I update to 2.2 final when it comes out?
>
> Any comments would be appreciated,
> Jesse W

If the new version has features or bugfixes that you want or need, then by all
means upgrade. Otherwise, why bother?

--
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams <ignacio [at] openservices>

jessefw at loop

Aug 23, 2001, 12:42 PM

Post #3 of 5 (454 views)
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Downloading alpha releases; a good idea? [In reply to]

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams wrote:
> If the new version has features or bugfixes that you want or need,
> then by all means upgrade. Otherwise, why bother?
I would like some of the 2.2 features but I wan't to know if the alpha
releases are stable enough.

Jesse W

skip at pobox

Aug 23, 2001, 12:54 PM

Post #4 of 5 (466 views)
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Downloading alpha releases; a good idea? [In reply to]

Jesse> How unstable are alpha releases? I now have Python 2.0 and am
Jesse> thinking about updating. Should I go to 2.1(.1, of course), wait
Jesse> for 2.2 final, or get 2.2.a2 which is out now? And if I go with
Jesse> 2.1.1 should I update to 2.2 final when it comes out?

Most Python releases tend to actually be pretty stable, alpha, beta, or
otherwise. If you want to play around with new features, then by all means,
download the various prerelease versions. Otherwise, 2.1.1 is your best
bet. You can also point your source tree at the CVS repository and be even
more bleeding edge than the alpha releases. It also makes it fairly easy to
go back and forth between various releases by cvs updating to particular
release names.

--
Skip Montanaro (skip [at] pobox)
http://www.mojam.com/
http://www.musi-cal.com/

nas at python

Aug 23, 2001, 2:07 PM

Post #5 of 5 (470 views)
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Downloading alpha releases; a good idea? [In reply to]

Jesse W wrote:
> I am a hobby user of Python.
> How unstable are alpha releases?

Usually very stable. However, if you are using Python for an important
application it's better to stick to the latest stable release.

> I now have Python 2.0 and am thinking about updating. Should I go to
> 2.1(.1, of course), wait for 2.2 final, or get 2.2.a2 which is out
> now? And if I go with 2.1.1 should I update to 2.2 final when it
> comes out?

If you have time, please give 2.2a2 a try. If you can, download the
source and try building it. Run the standard test suite. Try running
your own applications. Python's test suite is substantial but it's
nothing compared to all the other code out there. Play with the new
features. 2.2 has some pretty nifty changes and Guido is still looking
for feedback.

Testing alpha and beta releases is an easy way to support Python
development.

Neil

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