Hi everyone,
# TLDR
We may be pushing the final release until December if the stability of Python 3.11 doesn't improve.
# Long Explanation
Unfortunately, we cannot still release the next Python 3.11 beta release (3.11.0b4) because we still have a bunch of pending release blockers. Unfortunately, this is still after several preexisting release blockers have been fixed, some of them being discovered after I sent my last update. These are the current release blockers:
https://github.com/python/cpython/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdat...
We also have some deferred blockers (some of them should actually be release blockers):
https://github.com/python/cpython/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdat...
Due to this and the fact that we are already 3 weeks delayed in the release schedule, the current stability of Python 3.11 is not as good as it is supposed to be at this stage of the release schedule and more testing from end-users and library authors is required. After discussing with the Steering Council, we are considering delaying the final release until December to allow for two more beta releases. This is how we are going to proceed:
- If the current release blockers are not fixed by the end of this week, two more betas will be released (1 month per beta) and we will *definitely* delay the final release until December.
- If the current release blockers are fixed we will proceed to release Python 3.11.0b4 on Monday. We will target the current release date (Monday, 2022-10-03) but if more release blockers that affect fundamental parts of the Python interpreter or the standard libraries are raised, the release team will still consider adding two more betas nd pushing the final release to December.
One of the goals that we are going to try to achieve from the release team is that no substantial code changes are added between the last beta and the first release candidate. This is so all the fixes that affect fundamental parts of the interpreter or the standard library can be tested by end-users before the first release candidate is released (and not with it). This is also partially because once we release the first release candidate, the ABI will be frozen and certain kinds of fixes will be more complicated.
Hopefully, this addresses some of you that have reached out with concerns over the stability of Python 3.11 and the release schedule.
I understand that delaying the release until December will complicate things for some Linux distributions and will affect end users and redistributors targeting the original release, but please understand that our responsibility in the release team after all is to guarantee a stable final release above all and unfortunately, we don't currently have the confidence that we would like given the current state of the release process.
Please do not hesitate in reaching out if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks, everyone for your help and understanding and thanks a lot to all of you for your great work!
Cheers from cloudy London, Pablo Galindo Salgado