Introduction

  • Requests vs Standard Library discusses the stance of the Requests project regarding its potential inclusion in Python’s standard library, exploring the implications and reasoning behind the decision.

Requests Overview

  • Features:

    • Prioritizes security and design.
    • Optimized interfaces for best practices in SSL, connection pooling, encoding, headers, etc.
    • Simplifies interaction with web services.

  • Popularity:

    • Requests is the most downloaded Python package, with around 42 million downloads from PyPi.
    • Regularly suggested for inclusion in the standard library.

Arguments for Inclusion

  • Social Responsibility:

    • Including Requests in the standard library could be seen as the "right thing" to do, given its critical role in the Python ecosystem.

  • Sustainability:

    • Inclusion could facilitate funding for core contributors, ensuring the project’s long-term sustainability.

  • Chardet:

    • Chardet, a dependency of Requests, is highlighted as a strong candidate for standard library inclusion due to its utility in character encoding detection.

Arguments Against Inclusion

  • Independence:
    • Requests' value lies in its superiority over the standard library; inclusion would diminish its ability to innovate and quickly respond to security incidents or spec changes.

This argument proved prescient. The debate over Requests' standard library inclusion highlighted fundamental questions about Python's development philosophy and the role of third-party packages in a language ecosystem.

  • Flexibility:
    • Inclusion in the standard library could limit the project’s ability to release updates and improvements promptly.

Broader Questions

  • Standard Library Goals:

    • The document questions the current goals of the standard library and whether inclusion is necessary in the era of tools like ensurepip.

  • Critical Infrastructure:

    • Requests is considered critical infrastructure for the Python community, but its inclusion in the standard library might make it less adaptable to change.

Conclusion

  • Final Stance:
    • The document leans against including Requests in the standard library, emphasizing the need for the project to remain agile and independent to continue serving the Python community effectively.