🌐 Mailman 3 May 2025 - Python-list - python.org

Searching for a file
by Rob Cliffe Aug. 9, 2025

Aug. 9, 2025

It occurs to me that it might be useful if Python provided a function to search for a file with a given name in various directories (much as the import.import_lib function searches for a module in the directories in sys.path). This function would perhaps be best placed in the os.path or os modules. To start the ball rolling, I offer this version: import sys import os def findfile(fileName, *PathLists): if not PathLists: # Default to searching just sys.path: PathLists = [ sys.path ] # This may or may not be the most useful default; # there is a case for having no default, forcing calls of this function # to explicitly specifiy which paths they want to search, # and perhaps raise an Exception if they don't; # suggestions welcome. for pList in PathLists: # if pList is a str, assume it is a semicolon-separated list of directories # (like the PATH and PYTHONPATH environment variables); # otherwise assume it is a sequence of paths (like sys.path): if isinstance(pList, str): pList = pList.split(';') for path in pList: filePath = os.path.join(path, fileName) if os.path.isfile(filePath): return filePath # Return first match found. # Another possibility is to return a list of all matches. return None Then e.g. print(findfile('os.py')) would print something like C:\Python311\Lib\os.py This idea was partly inspired by Michael Stemper asking about best practice for placing, and finding, a configuration file. Thoughts? Best wishes Rob Cliffe

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magic-wormhole 0.19.0
by meejah May 31, 2025

May 31, 2025

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 Greetings, Wizards have foretold that May 28, 2025 marks the release of Magic Wormhole version 0.19.0. Magic Wormhole is a Python library and CLI tool to securely get arbitrary data from one computer to another using short, one- time, human- pronounceable codes and end-to-end encryption. The library allows use of the lower-level protocol for things besides file-transfer. In this release are the following changes since 0.18.2: * Add a "status" feedback API for Dilation (#591, @meejah) * use new Status API to notify a sending user when a code is consumed (#575, @shapr + @meejah) * add support for Ping/Pong timeouts in Dilation, improving re-connection speed (#590 @meejah) * documentation improvements (#614, #615 @shapr + @meejah) * improve Dilation version negotiation (#606, #611 @shapr + @meejah) * convert test-suite to pytest (#603, #610 @shapr + @meejah) * resize progress bar properly (#622 @shapr) * Drop support for Python 3.9, upgrade github-actions (#596 @meejah) * add a contribution guide (#597 @meejah) * INCOMPAT: "sdist" files move to an underscore, so the source-package name is now "magic_wormhole-0.19.0.tar.gz" (the wheel files always had an underscore). This is because setuptools v69.3.0 in 2024 implemented PEP 625 from 2020. You can find the release on PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/magic-wormhole/ More information can be found: https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/welcome.html https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole thanks, meejah -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQFFBAEBCgAvFiEEnVor1WiOy4id680/wmAoAxKAaacFAmg33IURHG1lZWphaEBt ZWVqYWguY2EACgkQwmAoAxKAaaeUtQgAqtR8OfDXclj6YoeLc/Q594uI/ds0fvzA OCzetbLzUZF0fkFIfyFCHPLvNBD+TYXLYfo0E/pbRPklGxrMcntrgmYFERet2ZA3 p7oUxc79ylEm7Pp9Z5p/1YhYsz8PtrsZd7QPlip9OdBnKC9JAiZWv/F+8BHnNtvg OTfzK8to2wnPWR/XizFvk4X54p5PkczIo6nWOvscZ3FbtJErqZVTgSrfL9jNFFed V/GLHU/V1HhkY7zITvwL8+q1reJwymkf2oznJ6/ezgTRYyR3ISwhf5jOHhTlwRl5 SgNwNwlQU2pX4uXWsdTyTcWYMctlHKIcnYxUtiNHpHVgQ+TOTOnxhw== =wEqZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Python tutor mailing list?
by Alan Gauld May 28, 2025

May 28, 2025

I am the moderator of the python tutor mailing list. Or at least I was. It seems the tutor list has been deleted. I came back from vacation to find that I can't access it. Nobody told me anything in advance. I've tried emailing postmaster but got no response. I wonder if anyone here has any idea of what happened and why? The list had quietened down a lot since its heyday but there were still a few messages per month going to it. The archives are still there and the sign-up page seems to work, but it doesn't recognise me. I tried signing up as a new member with a different address and that seems to work(ie no errors) but I still don;t see any list activity. So, is it just the case that the admins have unsubscribed everyone on the list (again, this happened a few years ago)? Puzzled, -- Alan G Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos

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Python 3.14.0 beta 2 is here!
by Hugo van Kemenade May 26, 2025

May 26, 2025

Here’s the second 3.14 beta. https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3140b2/ This is a beta preview of Python 3.14 Python 3.14 is still in development. This release, 3.14.0b2, is the second of four planned beta releases. Beta release previews are intended to give the wider community the opportunity to test new features and bug fixes and to prepare their projects to support the new feature release. We strongly encourage maintainers of third-party Python projects to test with 3.14 during the beta phase and report issues found to the Python bug tracker as soon as possible. While the release is planned to be feature-complete entering the beta phase, it is possible that features may be modified or, in rare cases, deleted up until the start of the release candidate phase (Tuesday 2025-07-22). Our goal is to have no ABI changes after beta 4 and as few code changes as possible after the first release candidate. To achieve that, it will be extremely important to get as much exposure for 3.14 as possible during the beta phase. This includes creating pre-release wheels for 3.14, as it helps other projects to do their own testing. However, we recommend that your regular production releases wait until 3.14.0rc1, to avoid the risk of ABI breaks. Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments. Major new features of the 3.14 series, compared to 3.13 Some of the major new features and changes in Python 3.14 are: New features - PEP 649: The evaluation of type annotations is now deferred, improving the semantics of using annotations. - PEP 750: Template string literals (t-strings) for custom string processing, using the familiar syntax of f-strings. - PEP 784: A new module compression.zstd providing support for the Zstandard compression algorithm. - PEP 758: except and except* expressions may now omit the brackets. - Syntax highlighting in PyREPL, and support for color in unittest, argparse, json and calendar CLIs. - PEP 768: A zero-overhead external debugger interface for CPython. - UUID versions 6-8 are now supported by the uuid module, and generation of versions 3-5 and 8 are up to 40% faster. - PEP 765: Disallow return/break/continue that exit a finally block. - PEP 741: An improved C API for configuring Python. - A new type of interpreter. For certain newer compilers, this interpreter provides significantly better performance. Opt-in for now, requires building from source. - Improved error messages. - Builtin implementation of HMAC with formally verified code from the HACL* project. - A new command-line interface to inspect running Python processes using asynchronous tasks. - The pdb module now supports remote attaching to a running Python process. (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Hugo know.) For more details on the changes to Python 3.14, see What’s new in Python 3.14. The next pre-release of Python 3.14 will be 3.14.0b3, scheduled for 2025-06-17. https://docs.python.org/3.14/whatsnew/3.14.html Build changes - PEP 761: Python 3.14 and onwards no longer provides PGP signatures for release artifacts. Instead, Sigstore is recommended for verifiers. - Official macOS and Windows release binaries include an experimental JIT compiler. Python install manager The installer we offer for Windows is being replaced by our new install manager, which can be installed from the Windows Store or our FTP page. See our documentation for more information. The JSON file available for download below contains the list of all the installable packages available as part of this release, including file URLs and hashes, but is not required to install the latest release. The traditional installer will remain available throughout the 3.14 and 3.15 releases. More resources - Online documentation: https://docs.python.org/3.14/ - PEP 745, 3.14 Release Schedule: https://peps.python.org/pep-0745/ - Report bugs at https://github.com/python/cpython/issues - Help fund Python and its community: https://www.python.org/psf/donations/ And now for something completely different In 1897, the State of Indiana almost passed a bill defining π as 3.2. Of course, it’s not that simple. Edwin J. Goodwin, M.D., claimed to have come up with a solution to an ancient geometrical problem called squaring the circle, first proposed in Greek mathematics. It involves trying to draw a circle and a square with the same area, using only a compass and a straight edge. It turns out to be impossible because π is transcendental (and this had been proved just 13 years earlier by Ferdinand von Lindemann), but Goodwin fudged things so the value of π was 3.2 (his writings have included at least nine different values of π: including 4, 3.236, 3.232, 3.2325… and even 9.2376…). Goodwin had copyrighted his proof and offered it to the State of Indiana to use in their educational textbooks without paying royalties, provided they endorsed it. And so Indiana Bill No. 246 was introduced to the House on 18th January 1897. It was not understood and initially referred to the House Committee on Canals, also called the Committee on Swamp Lands. They then referred it to the Committee on Education, who duly recommended on 2nd February that “said bill do pass”. It passed its second reading on the 5th and the education chair moved that they suspend the constitutional rule that required bills to be read on three separate days. This passed 72-0, and the bill itself passed 67-0. The bill was referred to the Senate on 10th February, had its first reading on the 11th, and was referred to the Committee on Temperance, whose chair on the 12th recommended “that said bill do pass”. A mathematics professor, Clarence Abiathar Waldo, happened to be in the State Capitol on the day the House passed the bill and walked in during the debate to hear an ex-teacher argue: The case is perfectly simple. If we pass this bill which establishes a new and correct value for pi , the author offers to our state without cost the use of his discovery and its free publication in our school text books, while everyone else must pay him a royalty. Waldo ensured the senators were “properly coached”; and on the 12th, during the second reading, after an unsuccessful attempt to amend the bill it was postponed indefinitely. But not before the senators had some fun. The Indiana News reported on the 13th: …the bill was brought up and made fun of. The Senators made bad puns about it, ridiculed it and laughed over it. The fun lasted half an hour. Senator Hubbell said that it was not meet for the Senate, which was costing the State $250 a day, to waste its time in such frivolity. He said that in reading the leading newspapers of Chicago and the East, he found that the Indiana State Legislature had laid itself open to ridicule by the action already taken on the bill. He thought consideration of such a proposition was not dignified or worthy of the Senate. He moved the indefinite postponement of the bill, and the motion carried. Enjoy the new release Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by volunteering yourself or through organisation contributions to the Python Software Foundation. Regards from Helsinki, still light at 10pm, Your release team, Hugo van Kemenade Ned Deily Steve Dower Łukasz Langa

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Best practice for config files?
by Michael F. Stemper May 24, 2025

May 24, 2025

I recently wrote a program to do some record-keeping for me. I found myself hard-coding a bunch of different values into it. This didn't seem right, so I made my first use of configparser.ConfigParser(). Created the configuration file and everything is working fine. However, I wrote it based on the assumption that the program is running in the directory where the config file is stored, and has a specific name. I started having some second thoughts here. I thought about putting the location of the configuration file in the configuration file, but that seemed like a non-starter.[1] Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice? [1] See Tegan Jovanka in _Castrovalva_ for more on this idea. -- Michael F. Stemper If it isn't running programs and it isn't fusing atoms, it's just bending space.

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Re: Best practice for config files?
by Michael F. Stemper May 24, 2025

May 24, 2025

On 22/05/2025 15.27, Stefan Ram wrote: > "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper(a)gmail.com> wrote or quoted: >> Should I specify the location of the config file with a command-line >> option, or is requiring the program to be executed in the directory >> containing the configuration file considered acceptable practice? > > It was me who digged out this "platformdirs" "user_config_dir" > API using a source code search on my harddisk without any help. > But then I asked my buddy, the chatbot, to explain how to > use it, which I include here, followed by some more words > of my own at the end. Chatbot: [massive snip] > On Linux: > > ~/.config/YourAppName [another one] Wow, if that's the best practice, I'll settle for second-best! Somebody who wished to remain anonymous contacted me via email and suggested that I could have my cake and eat it, too. I am going ahead with having a default location for the config file, as well as a command-line option to specify a different file. Blindingly obvious! And the default will not be in the directory in which the program is being run. Your post reminded me of the existence of $HOME/.config which is obviously the right place for it. Thanks for all of the suggestions. -- Michael F. Stemper I refuse to believe that a corporation is a person until Texas executes one.

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Re: Best practice for config files? (Posting On Python-List Prohibited)
by rbowman May 24, 2025

May 24, 2025

On Fri, 23 May 2025 22:22:36 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote: > On 23 May 2025 19:18:23 GMT, Stefan Ram wrote: > >> Coincidentally, I just read: >> >> |When IDLE first starts, it attempts to read user |configuration files >> in ~/.idlerc/ (~ is one's home |directory). > > Apps should be abiding by the XDG spec nowadays, and stop cluttering up > users’ home directories. Good luck with that. I've got 48 directories ranging from .arduino15 to .vscode. Then there are the 58 directories in .config.

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Dynamic classes
by Jonathan Gossage May 20, 2025

May 20, 2025

I have created a dynamic class using the type() function: x = type('MyFlags', (), {'Flag1': 1, 'Flag2': 2, 'Flag3: 4, ' '__init__' : __init__}) The new class is there, and the class variables, Flag1, Flag2, and Flag3, are present correctly. However, when I try to create an instance of this class with the following code: y = x('Flag1', 'Flag2') it fails with a TypeError stating that 'MyFlags' does not accept arguments. What do I have to do to make this happen?. BTW __init__(self, *args) is defined as the instance initializer. -- Jonathan Gossage

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Re: Dynamic classes
by Greg Ewing May 20, 2025

May 20, 2025

On 20/05/25 4:33 am, Stefan Ram wrote: > So, the reason you're getting that > TypeError is your __init__ function isn't actually hooked up > right when you build your class with "type". You got to set up > your init before you call "type", and then drop it into the > class dictionary as a /function/ (not as a string). That's what he did, or at least that's what he tried to do. It turns out the misplaced quote was the entire problem -- by a fluke, it didn't result in a syntax error, and ended up putting the __init__ function into the dict under the name 'Flag3: 4, __init__'. -- Greg

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Trailer for upcoming Python documentary
by Larry Martell May 19, 2025

May 19, 2025

https://youtu.be/pqBqdNIPrbo?si=P2ukSXnDj3qy3HBJ

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