Re: [Docutils-develop] Re: Python CVS has old docutils? (and pep2html.py uses it)

[David G. <go...@py...>]

[Beni Cherniavsky]
 >> Some time ago, pep2html.py was deleted from the docutils CVS.

It was 2004-07-27.

[Felix Wiemann]
 > I'm not sure right now why we deleted it.

 From the 2004-07-27 Docutils Bug Day IRC transcript (edited slightly):

felixw: Who needs pep2html.py? (Except you?)  It looks like most users
         will want to use pep.py, but maybe I'm wrong.
davidg: we could get rid of pep2html.py from Docutils, since it's a
         duplicate of what's in Python's CVS. but I wouldn't rename
         pep.py to pep2html.py: too confusing
davidg: PEP authors use it, but probably Python's copy
felixw: pep.py shouldn't be installed by default, should it? It seems
         too specific.
davidg: probably not. [...]
felixw: Does Python have a copy of pep.py, too?
davidg: no, doesn't need it. pep2html.py is enough

BTW, we should do another Bug Day soon, especially if others could
join in.  It would be more fun if it weren't just Felix & me.

 > There is quite a lot of code in pep2html.py, and pep.py is much
 > shorter.

tools/pep.py only processes reST PEPs, not plaintext PEPs.
pep2html.py does both, and has more features (installing PEPs on
www.python.org, etc.).

 > David, any idea?  We didn't delete pep2html.py while it should have
 > been pep.py, did we?

No.

 >> Apparently, it was decided that since it's barely a proper docutils
 >> frontend and mostly a parser for the old PEP format and a repository
 >> of PEP maintainance it belongs in the Python CVS.  OK with me.

Nothing to do with being a proper Docutils front end or not.  Just a
maintenance issue.  If you're dealing with Python PEPs, you'll have
Python's nondist/peps/ from CVS, so you'll have pep2html.py.  There
are probably more PEP authors who happen to use Docutils than Docutils
users who happen to write PEPs.

 >> Now the problem is that the copy of docutils that comes with
 >> pep2html.py in the Python CVS (under `nondist/peps/`__) is a very
 >> old version, which lack some essential features like understanding
 >> the new config sections, so my /etc/docutils.conf and ~/.docutils
 >> don't work with it.  I fixed it by replacing the
 >> nondist/peps/docutils directory by a symlink to the up-to-date
 >> docutils on my machine.

That's a valid fix.

 >> The proper fix is probably updating the docutils in Python CVS.

Yes, I agree.  An update of Docutils in Python CVS
(nondist/peps/docutils) is overdue.  I will do it soon.

 > I don't see much point in having a copy of Docutils in the Python
 > CVS.  Why not just add a note that Docutils is required to process
 > the pep files?

Fred's recollection sounds right.  The Python developers asked if
Docutils could be included to make PEP editing & processing easier.
There's no harm in having a copy of Docutils there, so I agreed.  And
it's not much effort to update it (I think I wrote a script to help).
I just haven't done it recently, but I will soon.

-- 
David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>