Happy new year to all.
Today's post is about a folder on my desktop named dev. It's where I've kept (for many years, well into my Windows-using days, even into the era when I used SVN rather than Git) all my working copies for my own projects (and forks of others'), mostly Python code of course. (I'm not sure how I organized things at the time, but there are projects in there dating back to 2006.)
This post is a start of a series I've planned about how packaging currently works in Python, what's wrong with it, and how to cope with the problems. But before I get into the meat of it, I want to talk about common complaints that don't resonate with me.
# TODO: finish todo listThis is a difficult post to write, largely because of the self-critique involved. Which is part of why I've been putting it off. For months, if I'm honest with myself.
But putting it off has only made it harder to write. I also seem to have reached a point where it psychologically feels impossible to publish anything else here first. So, I'm finally forcing myself to write it now - during the holiday season, to prove to myself that I can.
It's no secret that the history of this blog so far has been dominantly one of false starts. Please allow me a moment to explain how that came to be.
Thanks to everyone who contacted me with praise, thanks etc. for my previous post, or shared the link. I'm truly grateful for all such support.
If you haven't seen that post yet, please take a moment to read it first. It gives important context (such as explanations of acronyms), which I will not be repeating here.
On August 7, Python core developer Tim Peters was issued a 3-month (although it ended November 1, perhaps due to a clerical error) suspension from that role, accompanied by a suspension from the official Python Discourse forum. This was connected to my own (permanent) ban from that forum (issued July 19), a fact which other sources have largely ignored.
In this post, I describe key events between those two dates, tell my story, and respond to the charges laid against Mr. Peters (spoiler: I find them ludicrous).
On July 19th, I was banned ("indefinitely suspended") from the official Python Discourse forum, and several of my most recent posts were "temporarily" hidden by flagging "by the community" (per the stock phrasing of the Discourse software). I was already voluntarily about to leave, so I don't particularly mind losing access - but it was nevertheless unjust.
Furthermore, the manner in which this was handled shocks and appalls me. In my estimation, the WG has acted with astounding hypocrisy, which I will allude to in this post and attempt to elucidate in later posts. In announcing my ban, they made a parting statement which misrepresents my position in egregious and indefensible ways. Further, it is my considered opinion that these actions reflect a "social justice" ideology which is neither just nor eusocial - one which I believe is fundamentally corrupt and enables serious real-world harm.