<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I have been casually fantasizing about reimplementing Bugzilla in Python. I am aware of <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla:Languages">the Bugzilla:Languages page</a> (and corresponding <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla_Talk:Languages">discussion page</a>), but note that it hasn't undergone any revisions for over four years, and a lot has changed since then. For example, many of the "Cons" listed under Python may have been addressed in later releases, especially v3.***<div><div><div><br></div><div>If I were to make a sincere effort, I would concentrate on producing a faithful replica of the stable branch (with refactoring where appropriate to bridge any gap between the two languages/architectures/libraries such as template engines). In other words, I would not make any attempt to fix design issues or add new features in order to preserve as much value of the <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/describecomponents.cgi?product=Bugzilla">existing knowledge base</a> as possible. Obviously competent help would be greatly appreciated, as this would not be my day job.</div><div><br></div><div>However, I am reluctant to embark on such an undertaking without having some assurances that the effort would be useful, or that it would be a realistic candidate for becoming the adopted standard (assuming I do my part to competently comport with existing bugzilla philosophies, standards, and conventions wherever possible).</div><div><br></div><div>I have two questions:</div><div><br></div><div>1) If I was magically done today (with some approval of validity by existing developers), what is the likelihood that a Python implementation would (sometime over the following 6-12 months) be adopted as the primary architecture? I.E., how much inertia can realistically be attributed to Perl as an architecture (including comfort, emotional attachment, institutional knowledge, etc.)?</div><div><br></div><div>2) Assuming a 60%-or-better chance of adoption, does any onlooker have the desire and ability to assist (specifically with a Python "port")?****</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks, and I look forward to any discussion.</div><div><div>
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--Matt<br>
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<br></div></div></div><div>*** This e-mail is not directly intended to trigger a debate of tradeoffs, but such a debate may be necessary before my questions may be meaningfully answered. I'm guessing the biggest hurdle Python faces is a lack of a built-in "taint" mode which would necessitate the adoption of different coding standards/conventions. (There is <a href="http://revista.python.org.ar/1/html-en/taint.html">an academic project</a> which claims to provide similar functionality, but I've never used it, and I don't know anything about its performance.)</div><div><br></div><div>I know that the subject has been briefly broached <a href="https://lists.bugzilla.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr?user=ossipov@inf.fu-berlin.de&passw=&list=developers&brief=on&func=archive-get-part&extra=200210/67">several</a> <a href="https://lists.bugzilla.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr?user=benwei@veriwave.com&passw=&list=developers&brief=on&func=archive-get-part&extra=200903/20">times</a> on this list, but not substantively as far as I can tell.</div><div><br></div><div>In the interest of full disclosure, I have more experience with Python than Perl. I <i>like</i> Python. I do not like Perl. For the sake of this discussion, please consider this a disclosure of my emotional biases and attribute no weight to them.</div><div><br></div><div>**** Before answering, you should be aware that this would be a <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/p/bugzilla">substantial undertaking</a>. I say this only because I am trying to realistically gauge sincere interest.</div><div><br></div></body></html>