Enable a `latest` symlink on the ftp index
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- Dominant language
- Python
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Description
Hello all 👋
I recently talked with a friend of mine (@sdelquin) and he has a specific use-case for the ftp directory on his Python seminars and usually the students are requested to download "the latest Python version" from the command-line, from which he developed a little ad-hoc script to get such function:
PYTHON_LATEST=`curl -s https://www.python.org/downloads/ | gunzip -c | grep latest | perl -nle 'print $1 if /(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)/'`
PYTHON_DOWNLOAD=https://www.python.org/ftp/python/$PYTHON_LATEST/Python-$PYTHON_LATEST.tgz
This use-case could be improved if we have a latest symlink at https://www.python.org/ftp/python/ always pointing to the latest stable release.
I'm not certain how to implement this, because I'm not aware of how the ftp index is generated, but I have the feeling it shouldn't be so complicated, considering that during the release process, the release managers can select a checkbox to say "this is the latest release".
In my experience this is nothing new, and in some other indexes it's common to find a latest symlink, like this example
Just for the record, I already talked about this with @hugovk and @ewdurbin but I'm opening an issue so the discussion can stay in one place :)
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- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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Research direction
Start by tracing how the FTP index is generated and how the release process records the latest stable release; the payload does not name specific files or tests. Done means the Python FTP index exposes a latest symlink that points to the latest stable release and remains correct after releases.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- release
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100