Just a reminder that 3.7.0b3 is almost upon us. Please get your feature fixes, bug fixes, and documentation updates in before 2018-03-26 ~23:59 Anywhere on Earth (UTC-12:00). That's a little over 3.5 days from now.

IMPORTANT: We are now entering the final phases of 3.7.0. After the tagging for 3.7.0b3, the intention is that the ABI for 3.7.0 is frozen. After next week's 3.7.0b3, there will only be two more opportunities planned for changes prior to 3.7.0 final:

• 2018-04-30 3.7.0 beta 4
• 2018-05-31 3.7.0 release candidate

As I've noted in previous communications, we need to start locking down 3.7.0 so that our downstream users, that is, third-party package developers, Python distributors, and end users, can test their code with confidence that the actual release of 3.7.0 will hold no unpleasant surprises. So after 3.7.0b3, you should treat the 3.7 branch as if it is already released and in maintenance mode. That means you should only push the kinds of changes that are appropriate for a maintenance release: non-ABI-changing bug and feature fixes and documentation updates. If you find a problem that requires an ABI-altering or other significant user-facing change (for example, something likely to introduce an incompatibility with existing users' code or require rebuilding of user extension modules), please make sure to set the b.p.o issue to "release blocker" priority and describe there why you feel the change is necessary. If you are reviewing PRs for 3.7 (and please do!), be on the lookout for and flag potential incompatibilities (we've all made them).

Thanks again for all of your hard work towards making 3.7.0 yet another great release!

--Ned

-- Ned Deily nad@python.org -- []