doc/source/coding.rst: New python coding guidelines

The exception for mixedCase names is now only granted for modules
introduced prior to version 0.7.9 and changes thereto.

Modules which are listed as deprecated in the documentation of Python 2.6
should be avoided.

has_key() may only be used on TagSection objects.

1 files changed, 22 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/doc/source/coding.rst b/doc/source/coding.rst
index 61c037ec..1357ce14 100644
--- a/doc/source/coding.rst
+++ b/doc/source/coding.rst
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 Coding for python-apt
 ======================
 Let's say you need a new feature, you can develop it, and you want to get it
-included in python-apt. Then be sure to follow the following guidelines
-
+included in python-apt. Then be sure to follow the following guidelines.
 
 Available branches
 -------------------
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ submit them.
     happens.
 
     VCS-Browser: http://bzr.debian.org/loggerhead/apt/python-apt/debian-sid/changes
-    
+
 **jak:** http://bzr.debian.org/users/jak/python-apt/jak
     This is Julian Andres Klode's (the documentation author's) branch. This
     is the place where cleanup and documentation updates happen. It is based
@@ -70,18 +69,28 @@ attributes, etc.
 
 Python Coding Style
 -------------------
-The coding style for the rest of the code is basically :PEP:`8`, with some exceptions:
+The coding style for all code written in python is :PEP:`8`. For modules added
+from version 0.7.9 on, there are no exceptions.
+
+Modules introduced prior to 0.7.9 use mixedCase names for methods, functions
+and variables. These names will be replaced by names conforming to :PEP:`8`
+in a future release of python-apt.
 
-The naming convention is mixedCase for functions, methods, attributes, and
-variables. This is considered bad and will be changed in future versions to
-lowercase_with_underscores, as stated in :PEP:`8`.
+Therefore, try to reduce the introduction of the mixedName code to the absolute
+minimum (sometimes you can also use shorter names).
+
+To prepare the port to Python 3.0, code should not use any functionality which
+is deprecated as of Python 2.6.
+
+The has_key() functionality may be used only on TagSection objects; as they
+provide no other way to do this. If someone is willing to adapt TagSection to
+support ``key in mapping`` and ``iter(mapping)``, this would be great.
 
 .. note::
 
     You can use the tool pep8.py from http://svn.browsershots.org/trunk/devtools/pep8/
     to validate your code. Please also run pylint, pychecker, and pyflakes and
-    fix all new errors they report (unresolved names, etc.).
-
+    fix all new **errors** they report (undefined names, etc.).
 
 Submitting your patch
 ---------------------
@@ -124,7 +133,9 @@ patch, you may need to *merge* the branch instead.
     If you plan to work on python-apt for a longer time, it may be a good
     idea to publish your branch somewhere. Alioth (http://alioth.debian.org)
     and Launchpad (https://launchpad.net) provide bzr hosting. You can also
-    use any webspace with ftp or sftp connection (for the upload).
+    use any webspace with ftp or sftp connection (for the upload). Then you do
+    not need to send *merge directives*, but you can point to your branch
+    instead.
 
 
 Documentation updates
@@ -154,3 +165,4 @@ package::
     user@pc:~/debian-sid$ bzr commit
     user@pc:~/debian-sid$ bzr send -o my-patch
     user@pc:~/debian-sid$ reportbug --severity=wishlist --tag=patch --attach=my-patch python-apt
+    user@pc:~/debian-sid$ # Add --list-cc=jak@debian.org if you change docs.