Backport sys.maxsize to Python 2.6

[tiran]

BPO	2488
Nosy	@loewis, @akuchling, @birkenfeld, @rhettinger, @tiran
Files	patch.diff: Patch of sys.maxsize including docstring and NEWS

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2008-05-20.08:11:50.298>
created_at = <Date 2008-03-25.23:35:50.059>
labels = ['extension-modules', 'easy', 'type-feature']
title = 'Backport sys.maxsize to Python 2.6'
updated_at = <Date 2008-05-20.08:11:50.244>
user = 'https://github.com/tiran'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2008-05-20.08:11:50.244>
actor = 'loewis'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2008-05-20.08:11:50.298>
closer = 'loewis'
components = ['Extension Modules']
creation = <Date 2008-03-25.23:35:50.059>
creator = 'christian.heimes'
dependencies = []
files = ['9859']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 2488
keywords = ['patch', 'easy', '26backport']
message_count = 7.0
messages = ['64528', '64530', '64544', '64545', '66549', '66550', '67113']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['loewis', 'akuchling', 'georg.brandl', 'rhettinger', 'christian.heimes', 'ryan.freckleton']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'high'
resolution = 'accepted'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue2488'
versions = ['Python 2.6']

[tiran]

See topic

[ryanfreckleton]

Here's a patch including docstring and NEWS update for this backport.

[birkenfeld]

What about bpo-1570?

[rhettinger]

FWIW, I don't see how backports like this add any value at all. The 2-
to-3 tool handles renaming well, but a backport just creates a hodge-
podge of aliases making the language harder to learn and harder to grep.

[akuchling]

djmitchell noticed this patch at the bug day -- should it be committed,
or just closed?

[akuchling]

Oh, and I don't understand Raymond's comment: sys.maxsize isn't an
alias for anything, but a new piece of information (the largest size of
containers). Maybe that information isn't useful, or 2.6 doesn't
always support containers up to that limit, but sys.maxsize doesn't
seem to be merely a renaming of something.

[loewis]

Thanks for the patch. Committed (with modifications) as r63498.