[Fedora-suds-list] TransportError needs a docstring, maybe a change in behavior

[Rod Montgomery]

In file transport/__init__.py maybe change the class def to this?

class TransportError(Exception):
     def __init__(self, reason, httpcode, fp=None):
         """
         A transport exception
         @param reason: Human-readable text message
         @type  reason: str
         @param httpcode: 3-decimal-digit HTTP status code (RFC 2616)
         @type  httpcode: str
         @param fp: either a file-like object, containing (?what?), or None
         @type  fp: stream
         """
         Exception.__init__(self, reason)
         self.httpcode = httpcode
         self.fp = fp

I have not yet figured out exactly *what* is in the  fp  element, when it is not  None. Anybody know offhand?

The Python Library Reference, section 2.3, says  Exception  is derived from  BaseException  and that raising  BaseException 
with a single argument -- as here -- makes that argument available both as the str() and unicode() values of the exception 
and as the  message  attribute of the exception. "All arguments are also stored in args as a tuple, but it will eventually be 
deprecated and thus its use is discouraged."

In Suds as it now stands, the only places that  raise TransportError  are in the  open  and  send  methods of the 
HttpTransport  class, in file  transport/http.py. Both cases are in  except u2.HTTPError  clauses, where  u2  is bound to 
urllib2  from the stdlib:

For open:
         except u2.HTTPError, e:
             raise TransportError(str(e), e.code, e.fp)

For send:
         except u2.HTTPError, e:
             if e.code in (202,204):
                 result = None
             else:
                 raise TransportError(e.msg, e.code, e.fp)

Why does  open  use  str(e)  where  send  uses  e.msg  ?

 From the source code for  HTTPError, it looks to me like e.msg and str(e) differ, in a way that would make it harder than 
necessary to write a single handler for both versions of the exception. Am I missing something? Is there a good reason for 
the difference?

I was tempted to open a ticket for this, but (a) the proposed changes seemed too trivial and (b) I thought I'd have a better 
chance of getting my questions answered if I posted to the List instead.

I'm digging deeper into exactly how  HTTPError  works in  urllib2  so I'll be able to make  TransportError  work as uniformly 
as possible across the Suds-provided  Transport  and alternatives based on  httplib2  and  urllib3.
It might help my understanding, if I could look at a few cases that actually use TransportError non-trivially. Anyone have 
any to share?