29.2 The Process

The topic of how Python is developed is a fascinating one, as Python is one of the better run open source projects, but it is mostly off-topic for this book. If you're interested in learning more (whether you think you can contribute to Python yourself or not), read some of the information at http://www.python.org/dev—you'll find everything from descriptions of the Python developer culture to specific technical details on how to contribute.

As a user of Python, however, you can play a role in the (unlikely) event that you find a bug in Python. If you do, you should isolate the code that's causing you headaches or not behaving according to specification to the bare minimum, and post it as a bug on Python's bug tracker. As of this writing, Python is using the bug tracker run by Sourceforge, although there is talk to move to something else. The bug manager is located at http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470, and instructions on how to submit a bug report are at http://www.python.org/doc/current/ext/reporting-bugs.html.