[Chandler-dev] Python 3000 restricted execution discussion

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 09:34 AM 4/14/2006 -0700, John Anderson wrote:
>It looks like Python might end up with a sandbox execution environment 
>after all.

The only thing new about that thread is what mailing list it's on.  :)

Nothing has actually changed about what is or isn't planned, and if you 
read the thread you'll see that all the people who've actually gotten their 
hands dirty with significant work on the Python VM (e.g. Guido) are 
open-minded but very skeptical of the claims and proposals -- except 
"proposal" is way too strong a word for the discussion taking place.  In 
particular see:

    http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2006-April/000572.html

and:

    http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2006-April/000646.html

In any event, the practical ramifications for OSAF are limited, even if a 
feature like this were to appear in Python 3, because Python 3 will not run 
Python 2.x code without modifications.

If OSAF needs a sandbox in the next couple of years, the best place to look 
remains Zope, which has an actual working production implementation of 
restricted execution and capability proxies for Python 2.x.  That 
implementation has been in the field for years with commercial support, and 
is even available in egg form now.