[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Mon, 08 Apr 2002 20:47:34 -0400

In the FreeBSD world (where I also participate), there is no such thing as an "experimental" release, such as the linux world might have. All "RELEASES" are stable, by definition. That's part of why it moves slower.

That's what I like to believe of Python's "final" releases, too.

There was just an announcement of a "Developer Preview" of 5.0, which is still 6 months away most likely. It is however, kept separate from the standard releases. This is the warning that accompanied the announcement:

***************************** WARNING ******************************** This is a development snapshot, and may include serious software bugs. Do not install this on a machine where important data may be put at risk. In addition, a number of debugging options are turned on by default, so the poor performance of this snapshot should not set expectations for the final release of 5.0. **********************************************************************

How is this different from an alpha or beta release?

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)