First, repoze.bfg had its long-awaited 1.3 release last week. For fans of the lightweight framework, this release was a nice wrapping-up point. i18n/l10n and lots of little tweaks to scratch itches reported by developers. Not only was Chris fast getting those wishes out the door, he did his usual exceptional job on getting the docs up-to-date.
As it turned out, getting 1.3 out the door was important. It’s the last major release of BFG, which is now in maintenance mode, because…
…Pylons and repoze.bfg are merging! First, the projects are merging. Ben Bangert and Chris McDonough as project leads, plus the core developer teams for each project, have combined forces into the Pylons Project. And the first deliverable is already evaluation-ready. BFG 1.3 has been renamed Pyramid and will serve as the lightweight web framework for other activity in the Pylons Project.
Because it is based on BFG, Pyramid gains 600+ pages of docs, 100% test coverage, and many other qualities under the banner of “Small, Fast, Documented, Tested, Stable, Friendly, Extensible.” In addition, Pyramid adds new machinery BFG to fulfill Pylons 1.x style programming.
Both repoze.bfg 1.3 and Pylons 1.x will continue a long period of bug fixing. Applications that don’t want the change, but want maintenance, will thus be pleased.
I had a chance to meet with Ben, Mark Ramm, Chris, and Chris Rossi in Vegas a few weeks ago to talk about all of this. It was an exceptional trip. So often you see pride and egos in open source projects cause forking and splintering. In this case, projects did the opposite: join forces to maximize how many resources are available for producing something of long-term quality.
Moreover, it’s fun working with new people and getting fresh ideas. The problems that were solved 3 years ago in the last big cycle of Python web frameworks aren’t the same as the problems to solve in the next 3 years. I honestly believe the Pylons Project will have some fresh ideas to bring to the table, as well as a commitment to meat-and-potatoes excellence in documentation, testing, support, speed, etc.
Developers from different communities (Pylons, Zope, etc.) have a new choice, one with momentum, very long experience in writing and supporting large applications, and a good group of people involved. I’m looking forward to the next 3 years.
