[Python-Dev] [RELEASED] Python 2.7 alpha 2 (original) (raw)

Neil Schemenauer nas at arctrix.com
Mon Jan 11 02:44:57 CET 2010

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 12:09:08PM -0800, Brett Cannon wrote:

I don't think ending the 2.x series at 2.7 makes it look bad compared to 3.2; it's simply the end of a development line like any other software project. I suspect 2.7 will have a protracted bugfix window because so much code runs on 2.x exclusively at the moment.

I would guess over 99% of all Python code written doesn't run on Python 3. Given that, I think it is premature to close the door on new major versions of Python 2.x. Also, we as a project should be careful not to present the image that Python 2.x will not be supported in the future.

If there really is an outcry on this we can re-visit the issue, but as of right now we need to move forward at some point and 2.7 seems like that good point.

I think that's bad PR. If I had a successful product, I would not announce its end of life just to see how many customers scream and then decide if I should devote more resources to continue maintaining it.

IMHO, the release notes should say something like:

 After the Python 2.7 release, the focus of Python development
 will be on Python 3.  There will continue to be maintainance
 releases of Python 2.x.

trying-to-head-off-the-python-is-dying-meme-ly y'rs Neil

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