Python in Fedora 13

Feature highlights

Software developers building applications which require compatibility with future releases of Python will find two significant enhancements in Fedora 13's Python stack.

Parallel installation

Fedora 13 also blazes a trail with a parallel-installable Python 3 stack that will help programmers write and test code for use in both Python 2.6 and Python 3 environments. Beyond the core libraries, some additional libraries are already provided, with more expected to follow throughout this and future releases.

For more information, see the Fedora 13 talking points.

Debugging

Better monitoring tools

SystemTap static probes, Easier Python debugging feature

While Fedora used to have pretty decent introspection tools for the kernel, this release expands the visibility of monitoring on a higher level what is happening inside language runtimes like Java, Python and TCL. A start has been made with other user space applications like PostgreSQL, which will be extended to many more applications in Fedora 14 (this is a continuous process, making Fedora a better and tightly integrated developer platform). The SystemTap static probes feature page already has compelling examples for the case of Python programs. In addition, Engineering team member David Malcolm has added new support that allows developers working with mixed libraries (Python and C/C++) to get more complete information when debugging. Backtraces will now show output from code written in both languages, including those generated by Fedora's Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT), and developers can more quickly improve software. Both static probes and mixed debugging give developers fuller visibility into the workings of Python code, enhancing the development experience on the Fedora platform.

SystemTap's new static probes for monitoring higher-level languages and user space applications, and mixed debugging for Python and C/C++, help programmers find and squash bugs quickly. Parallel-installable Python 3

For more information, see the Fedora 13 talking points.

The folks behind the feature

FIXME -- Naming of this section.
I envision this section being an opportunity to make something that is scary and complicated a bit more personal, but introducing a few people who have interesting things to say about this particular feature, and with whom we'll be conducting interviews, etc.

• Dave Malcolm (user page, blog) -- Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat and the primary maintainer of Python for both Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
• Luke Macken (user page, blog) -- Software Engineer at Red Hat and member of Fedora's release engineering and infrastructure groups.
• Both Dave and Luke are members of Fedora's Python Special Interest Group.