A one-stop shop for Python code

Meet Sumana Harihareshwara of the Python Package Index, a Mozilla awardee. The Python Package Index is a repository of software for the Python programming language.

Learn more about the Python Package Index: https://pypi.org/

Learn more about Mozilla Open Source Support (MOSS) Awards: https://www.mozilla.org/moss/

Hey there.

My name is Sumana Harihareswara

and I am the project manager
for the Python Package Index.

From the time that I was a child,
I've been very interested in

community organizing,
empowering other people,

making sure that there's
nothing about us without us.

So when I found out about
free and open source software,

I thought, 'yeah!
This is the way forward.'

Essentially, the Python Package Index is
core infrastructure

for a huge chunk of
the computing industry.

Most of the time,
when people write software,

we don't write everything from scratch.

We basically borrow and duplicate
stuff that other people have done.

This is part of the magic of
free and open-source software,

and it's part of how
the internet,

and most of the technology
you use,

has been built.

It's really useful to have
a single website,

the Python Package Index,
that's a one-stop shop

for all of the open-source Python code
that you might want to reuse.

The Python Package Index got popular
before the code got good.

Starting a few years ago,
some people thought,

'all right, we need a rewrite.'

Volunteers started it.
But volunteers, working on

unpredictable schedules -- it wasn't
working. We knew that we needed help.

We needed MONEY! [laugh] Okay.

We needed funding
in order to get

this piece of core
infrastructure deployed.

Nobody was just giving us
money for that.

We heard about MOSS and realized
that we were potentially a good candidate

to apply for a MOSS award.
It's interesting how MOSS is

kind of a hidden gem,
that not nearly enough people have

heard of who would benefit from it.

The Mozilla Open Source Support program
is a fantastic way to get funding

from an organization that understands
why what you do is important.

Without the MOSS award, Python would be
immeasurably worse off right now.

The MOSS Award is what enabled
the Python Package Index

to launch and move into production.

(soft music)