[Fedora-packaging] How to "enforce" new Python packaging Guidelines (for naming)

[Miro Hrončok]

Hi,

Currently, `dnf install python-package` will give you the Python 2 
version. But, as you might know, upstream support for Python 2 will end 
in 2020. Around that time (or earlier), we'd like to make "python" mean 
Python 3 in Fedora.
Before we do that switch, we need to stop using unqualified "python" in 
package names, and instead use either "python2" or "python3"
everywhere.

Current packaging guidelines encourage packagers to do the right thing 
(see below for details). But it's not required, and many old packages 
use names that assume "python" means "Python 2".

What should we do? Should we mass fill bugs asking the packagers nicely 
to follow the new guidelines, or should we make a policy about this 
first and have the mass filled bugs backed up by it?

Technical details:

The current Python packaging guidelines [0] are written in a way that 
new packages will most likely be created in the following pattern:

  SRPM: python-modulename
   built packages:
    python2-modulename (providing python-modulename via %python_provide)
    python3-modulename (not yet providing python-modulename via 
%python_provide)

The %python_provide is there to easily transfer to the following state:

  SRPM: python-modulename
   built packages:
    python2-modulename (not anymore providing python-modulename via 
%python_provide)
    python3-modulename (providing python-modulename via %python_provide)


In order to make the switch, we would need all the Python packages in 
this state. However, there are plenty of other scenarios:

  SRPM: python-modulename
   built packages:
    python-modulename (without %python_provide)
    python3-modulename (without %python_provide)

or

  SRPM: python-modulename
   built packages:
    python-modulename (without %python_provide)
    (without python3 at all)

or even

  SRPM: pymodulename
   built packages:
      pymodulename (without %python_provide)
      python3-modulename, python3-pymodulename or even py3modulename 
(without %python_provide)

We've started tracking the state on PortingDB [1].

[0] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Python
[1] http://fedora.portingdb.xyz/namingpolicy/

Thanks for help,
Miro Hrončok
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