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

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Mon Jan 11 03:26:34 CET 2010

On 1/10/2010 8:44 PM, Neil Schemenauer wrote:

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.

If the removal of old features had been done in the 2.x series, as once planned (Guido originally proposed removing the old meaning of int / int in 2.5) the same more or less would be true of 2.7. It is past time for other old and now duplicated features to be removed also.

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.

Python is not being ended, but upgraded (with bloating duplications removed). Think of 3.1 as 2.8 with a new name.

tjr

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