>> I think this should be deferred to Py3.1.
>> This decision was not widely discussed and I think 
>> it likely that some users will be surprised and dismayed.

> Perhaps, but that could be said about almost any module 
> that has been removed through the stdlib reorg.

Many of those were trivial in comparison and many had good replacements
or were no longer relevant.  This is a bigger deal (almost on par with
removing Tkinter).

>> If it were any other release, we would have
>> disciplined ourselves to deprecate first and
>> remove a generation or two later.

> We are deprecating first in 2.6.

That, of course, isn't fair since 2.6 is going out the door at the same
time as 3.0.  Normally, we would go through more that one cycle between
the heads-up and taking the hit.  Life is already going to be
challenging for people using 2.6 as a stepping stone to 3.0.  Would hate
to stop some of them dead in the water.

> Well, it was in the PEP before beta2 even went out the door.

If you think everyone got fair warning, knows this is coming, has had a
chance to assess its impact, and has had a chance to comment on it, then
you're kidding yourself. 

I don't understand the rush to yank out a major component affecting a
commonly used module (shelve) without more due process, due diligence,
and a bit higher standard of care.  I don't think we're respecting our
users on this one.  What's wrong with deferring this to 3.1?