Recommend closing resolved or non-actionable issues (oldest-first batch, 2004–2007)

[citadelgrad]

Summary

I reviewed a batch of open issues sorted by creation date and identified 20 that appear to be resolved by Python 3's redesign, superseded by RFC updates, or simply stale feature requests with no traction after 18–22 years. Below is each issue with a suggested closure reason.

If you agree, the maintainers can bulk-close with:

gh issue close 44672 45217 44019 43453 43521 42625 43715 42985 43311 40038 40440 41525 41788 42255 43699 44781 44335 45276 44196 42172 --repo python/cpython

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Issues to close

• Use getaddrinfo() in urllib2.py for IPv6 support #44672 (opened Mar 7, 2007) — Use getaddrinfo() in urllib2.py for IPv6 support

  Superseded by Python 3. urllib2 was reorganized into urllib.request in Python 3, and modern Python HTTP handling uses getaddrinfo() by default. Last activity July 2012, targeted Python 3.2, no PR ever opened. Suggested close reason: completed.

• Patch for [ 735515 ] urllib2 should cache 301 redir #45217 (opened Jul 18, 2007) — Patch for urllib2 should cache 301 redirects

  Python 2-only concern. urllib2 no longer exists in Python 3; urllib.request never gained this feature and the issue has seen no activity since February 2014. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• RFC 2965 BaseCookie does not support "$Port" #44019 (opened Sep 24, 2006) — RFC 2965 BaseCookie does not support $Port

  RFC 2965 was itself obsoleted by RFC 6265, which explicitly dropped the $Port attribute. Implementing a feature from a superseded RFC is no longer meaningful. Last activity April 2019, no patch ever submitted. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Alternate RFC 3986 compliant URI parsing module #43453 (opened Jun 4, 2006) — Alternate RFC 3986 compliant URI parsing module

  The motivation for a separate module has faded as urllib.parse matured in Python 3. Last activity January 2015, targeted Python 3.5, no PR. The proposal has had no community momentum in over a decade. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• transparent gzip compression in urllib #43521 (opened Jun 19, 2006) — Transparent gzip compression in urllib

  urllib2 was replaced by urllib.request in Python 3, and the specific patch targets Python 2 internals. The feature has not been carried forward in 20 years. Last activity April 2022, no PR. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• SRE engine should release the GIL when/if possible #42625 (opened Nov 25, 2005) — SRE engine should release the GIL when/if possible

  Largely superseded by two developments: the third-party regex module (which releases the GIL) and the ongoing PEP 703 free-threading work in Python 3.13+. The issue itself has been dormant since May 2018 (last labeled for Python 3.8, now EOL). Suggested close reason: not planned.

• New sequences for Unicode groups and block ranges needed #43715 (opened Jul 25, 2006) — New Unicode group and block range sequences for re

  The dependent issue (bpo-2636) produced the third-party regex module, which fully supports \p{...} Unicode property escapes. The stdlib re module has not adopted these in the 20 years since this request. Last activity March 2019, no PR. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• email/charset.py convert() patch #42985 (opened Mar 6, 2006) — email/charset.py convert() patch

  The email package's new policy-based API (introduced in Python 3.3) supersedes the old charset.py conversion approach targeted by this patch. Priority was marked low at time of filing; last activity July 2019, no PR. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• patch smtplib:when SMTPDataError, rset crashes with sslerror #43311 (opened May 3, 2006) — smtplib: RSET crashes with SSLError after SMTPDataError

  Status marked "pending" (awaiting response from original reporter) since 2016. Targeted Python 3.7 (now EOL). A patch exists but was never converted to a GitHub PR. No activity in nearly a decade. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• imaplib: incorrect quoting in commands #40038 (opened Mar 16, 2004) — imaplib: incorrect quoting in commands

  Open since March 2004 — 22 years. The imaplib module has seen multiple revisions across Python 3.x releases. No PR has been opened despite a patch file attached in 2010. Last substantive activity December 2024 (a triage note only). Suggested close reason: not planned.

• wait_variable hangs at exit #40440 (opened Jun 23, 2004) — wait_variable hangs at exit

  Tkinter bug filed June 2004 — 22 years. Last activity November 2023 was a triage note with no resolution path offered. The wait_variable behavior at interpreter shutdown is a known Tkinter/Tcl lifecycle edge case with no actionable fix proposed. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Prefix search is filesystem-centric #41525 (opened Feb 4, 2005) — Prefix search is filesystem-centric

  Abstract enhancement filed February 2005 requesting a reworked prefix-search mechanism. Last activity April 2022 (migration note only). No patch, no PR, no concrete proposal in 21 years. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Export more libreadline API functions #41788 (opened Apr 1, 2005) — Export more libreadline API functions

  Filed April 2005 to expose additional libreadline API surface. Last activity April 2022 (migration note). The dependent issue (bpo-23067) was also closed without action. No PR in 21 years. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Simplying Tkinter's event loop #42255 (opened Aug 4, 2005) — Simplifying Tkinter's event loop

  Architectural proposal filed August 2005 to refactor Tkinter's event loop. 21 years old, only 9 comments, last activity November 2023 (triage note). No patch, no PR, and no consensus that this refactor is desirable. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Tkdnd mouse cursor handling patch #43699 (opened Jul 20, 2006) — Tkdnd mouse cursor handling patch

  Filed July 2006, only 3 comments total, last activity November 2023 (triage note). The patch targets an obscure Tkinter drag-and-drop cursor API. No PR, no community interest in nearly two decades. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• Added support for custom readline functions #44781 (opened Mar 28, 2007) — Added support for custom readline functions

  Filed March 2007 to add a hook for custom readline completion functions. Last activity April 2022 (migration note only). No PR in 19 years. The readline module has very limited maintenance bandwidth and this niche hook has no champions. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• POSIX capabilities support #44335 (opened Dec 13, 2006) — POSIX capabilities support

  Filed December 2006 to add a capabilities module for Linux POSIX capability bits. Has an open PR (WIP: bpo-1615158 : POSIX capabilities support (In a separate module) #15815) but it has been stalled since 2022 with no reviewer activity. This is a Linux-only feature with limited stdlib precedent; 19 years of inaction suggests it belongs as a third-party package. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• SocketServer.DatagramRequestHandler with empty response #45276 (opened Aug 4, 2007) — SocketServer.DatagramRequestHandler with empty response

  Filed August 2007. SocketServer was renamed to socketserver in Python 3, and the underlying behavior described has not been addressed in 19 years. Last activity September 2025 was a triage note. No PR. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• mail message parsing glitch #44196 (opened Nov 5, 2006) — mail message parsing glitch

  Filed November 2006. The email package was comprehensively overhauled in Python 3.3 with a new policy-based API. The original issue's parsing context (old-style email API) is largely irrelevant today. Last activity November 2023 (triage note only), no PR. Suggested close reason: not planned.

• filecmp.cmp's "shallow" option #42172 (opened Jul 8, 2005) — filecmp.cmp's "shallow" option documentation

  Filed July 2005 requesting clarification of the shallow parameter behavior in filecmp.cmp. Purely a documentation issue with a patch attached in 2014, but no PR was ever opened on GitHub. Last activity August 2023. 21 years is long enough to consider this stale. Suggested close reason: not planned.

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Note: Issues #42550 (httplib 100-continue, has active PR #14880) and #43702 (email CTE behavior, still being triaged against Python 3.11) were reviewed but intentionally excluded as they may still have an actionable path to resolution.

[terryjreedy]

Thank you for the work. I asked on our core dev discord triage channel about how we handle this and anything similar.

[serhiy-storchaka]

Please don't close re and tkinter issues. They all are at the bottom of my backlog.

The email package has many issues, and we should only close old issues until we sure that they are fixed. For example, while convert() was removed, the replacement was not ideal, and there are many remnants that mix the old and the new approach. It should be carefully reviewed and rewritten.

imaplib also has many design issues. I worked on the mentioned issue, but have not finished the solution yet, it is hard, and requires many other changes to be done.

urllib.parse still very far from ideal. I planned several steps, with adding new options, deprecations, and breaking compatibility when time comes. It will take years until we can say that the main issues are fixed.

Cookies support is in terrible state. I closed some old issues few weeks ago, but these modules require redesign, I have not even started it. I need the issues to be open to see the whole image.

Transparent gzip compression and redirection are nice to have features. If anybody provide PRs, this will be appreciated. But this an be not easy.

In general, I am against bulk-closing issues. They should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

[citadelgrad]

@serhiy-storchaka Keeping them open indefinitely doesn't fix the problem; it just adds to the cognitive load of backlog triage and obscures active, high-priority issues. Closing them doesn't erase anything all info is perfectly preserved.

This is a step toward a cleaner, more manageable tracker.