[Python-Dev] Future of 2.x. (original) (raw)

Steve Holden steve at holdenweb.com
Thu Jun 10 03:01:00 CEST 2010

Barry Warsaw wrote:

On Jun 09, 2010, at 09:13 AM, Bill Janssen wrote:

Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:

Note that Python 2.7 will be maintained for a very long time, which should satisfy those folks who still require Python 2. Anybody on older (and currently unmaintained) versions of Python 2 will not care about new features so a Python 2.8 wouldn't help them anyway. There are two kinds of new features, though. Those added to improve (or at any rate modify :-) the product, and those added to keep the product relevant to a changing external world (new operating systems, new communication protocols, etc.) I think it would take a pretty strong crystal ball to be able to rule out the latter kind of feature add from the 2.x line. The latter should mostly be supported by third party packages available in the Cheeseshop. To the extent that such support can't be effected by add-ons (e.g. new OS support), I think a better approach would be to encourage and allow unofficial ports by utilizing dvcs branches (we are moving to Mercurial after Python 2.7 final is released, right?). I think we should plan on 2.7 being the last Python 2, and spend lots of effort to get people onto Python 3, partially by offering big carrots like Unladen Swallow, a better/no GIL, etc. I think it should be part of the PSF's mission to help that happen through directed sponsorship, sprints, and other tools. The current stumbling block isn't the language itself, it's the lack of support from third-party libraries. GSoC is addressing some of these issues, but so far we (the PSF, the dev community, anybody else except R. David Murray) haven't really come to grips with intractable problems like the broken state of the email package, and we are not doing well at attracting funds to support it.

So I think we need to address a larger issue than just the language. As a development community we decided to change the language. Now we have to do what we can to ensure that the changed language has appropriate support.

regards Steve

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