RELEASED Python 2.3 (final)
On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm happy to announce the release of Python 2.3 (final). Nineteen months in the making, Python 2.3 represents a commitment to stability and improved performance, with a minimum of new language features. Countless bugs and memory leaks have been fixed, many new and updated modules have been added, and the new type/class system introduced in Python 2.2 has been significantly improved. Python 2.3 can be up to 30% faster than Python 2.2. For more information on Python 2.3, including download links for various platforms, release notes, and known issues, please see: http://www.python.org/2.3 Highlights of this new release include: - A brand new version of IDLE, the Python IDE, from the IDLEfork project at SourceForge. - Many new and improved library modules including: sets, heapq, datetime, textwrap, optparse, logging, bsddb, bz2, tarfile, ossaudiodev, itertools, platform, csv, timeit, shelve, DocXMLRPCServer, imaplib, imp, trace, and a new random number generator based on the highly acclaimed Mersenne Twister algorithm (with a period of 2**19937-1). Some obsolete modules have been deprecated. - New and improved built-ins including: o enumerate(): an iterator yielding (index, item) pairs o sum(): a new function to sum a sequence of numbers o basestring: an abstract base string type for str and unicode o bool: a proper type with instances True and False o compile(), eval(), exec: fully support Unicode, and allow input not ending in a newline o range(): support for long arguments (magnitude > sys.maxint) o dict(): new constructor signatures o filter(): returns Unicode when the input is Unicode o int() can now return long o isinstance(), super(): Now support instances whose type() is not equal to their __class__. super() no longer ignores data descriptors, except for __class__. o raw_input(): can now return Unicode objects o slice(), buffer(): are now types rather than functions - Many new doctest extensions, allowing them to be run by unittest. - Extended slices, e.g. "hello"[::-1] returns "olleh". - Universal newlines mode for reading files (converts \r, \n and \r\n all into \n). - Source code encoding declarations. (PEP 263) - Import from zip files. (PEP 273 and PEP 302) - FutureWarning issued for "unsigned" operations on ints. (PEP 237) - Faster list.sort() is now stable. - Unicode filenames on Windows. (PEP 227) - Karatsuba long multiplication (running time O(N**1.58) instead of O(N**2)). - pickle, cPickle, and copy support a new pickling protocol for more efficient pickling of (especially) new-style class instances. - The socket module now supports optional timeouts on all operations. - ssl support has been incorporated into the Windows installer. - Many improvements to Tkinter. Python 2.3 contains many other improvements, including the adoption of many Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs). For details see: http://www.python.org/2.3/highlights.html Enjoy. happy-50th-birthday-geddy-ly y'rs, -Barry Barry Warsaw barry@python.org Python 2.3 Release Manager (and the PythonLabs team: Tim, Fred, Jeremy, and Guido)
Barry A. Warsaw wrote:
On behalf of the Python development team and the Python community, I'm happy to announce the release of Python 2.3 (final).
Woohoo! I know I would like to thank Barry, Tim, and Jeremy for all playing some part of release manager for this. Now, it's time for Brett's Newbie Questions! When can we start doing 2.4 work on HEAD? I assume 2.3 will end up a maintenance branch that patches are to be back-ported to. If that is true, what is the tag name (I assume release23-maint)? What happens to 2.2 work? Since 2.3 will now be the last stable release should we even worry about backporting to 2.2? I know it has been said that 2.2 would be a very stable version that would be around for a while, but I think Martin said that once 2.3 was out we would not really worry about 2.2 . Are there any preset goals of 2.4? The only one I know of off the top of my head is to prevent Guido from getting a pie to the face at OSCON 2004. =) That is all I can think of off the top of my head. -Brett
Brett C. writes:
Woohoo! I know I would like to thank Barry, Tim, and Jeremy for all playing some part of release manager for this.
Yes, indeed!
When can we start doing 2.4 work on HEAD? I assume 2.3 will end up a maintenance branch that patches are to be back-ported to. If that is true, what is the tag name (I assume release23-maint)?
2.4 work can go on the head now as far as *I'm* concerned. 2.3 exists on a branch (release23-branch).
What happens to 2.2 work? Since 2.3 will now be the last stable release should we even worry about backporting to 2.2? I know it has been said that 2.2 would be a very stable version that would be around for a while, but I think Martin said that once 2.3 was out we would not really worry about 2.2 .
I'm inclined to be a little more conservative than that. I'd be glad to see a 2.2.4 release toward the end of the year to fix up any minor niggles, but we should be really careful about it. I know I have one memory leak patch I need to backport to the release22-maint branch.
Are there any preset goals of 2.4? The only one I know of off the top of my head is to prevent Guido from getting a pie to the face at OSCON 2004. =)
Actually, that might be something to see. ;-) -Fred -- Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake at acm.org> PythonLabs at Zope Corporation
I wrote:
I'm inclined to be a little more conservative than that. I'd be glad to see a 2.2.4 release toward the end of the year to fix up any minor niggles, but we should be really careful about it. I know I have one memory leak patch I need to backport to the release22-maint branch.
And I'll put my time where my mailer is: I'll volunteer to be the release manager. -Fred -- Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake at acm.org> PythonLabs at Zope Corporation
On Tue, 2003-07-29 at 23:05, Fred L. Drake, Jr. wrote:
I wrote:
I'm inclined to be a little more conservative than that. I'd be glad to see a 2.2.4 release toward the end of the year to fix up any minor niggles, but we should be really careful about it. I know I have one memory leak patch I need to backport to the release22-maint branch.
And I'll put my time where my mailer is: I'll volunteer to be the release manager.
Yay! It's fun. Peter Gabriel once said that everyone should shave their head once in their life. If that's a little too drastic or scary, being a Python RM is the next best thing! shock-the-monkey-ly y'rs, -Barry
On Tue, Jul 29, 2003, Fred L. Drake, Jr. wrote:
Fred wrote:
I'm inclined to be a little more conservative than that. I'd be glad to see a 2.2.4 release toward the end of the year to fix up any minor niggles, but we should be really careful about it. I know I have one memory leak patch I need to backport to the release22-maint branch.
And I'll put my time where my mailer is: I'll volunteer to be the release manager.
This prompted me to check PEP 6, and I noticed that nobody has updated it to include any recent Patch Czars. Does anybody care? If yes, I'll track down all the other patch releases. -- Aahz (aahz@pythoncraft.com) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ This is Python. We don't care much about theory, except where it intersects with useful practice. --Aahz
On Tue, 2003-07-29 at 23:02, Fred L. Drake, Jr. wrote:
Brett C. writes:
Woohoo! I know I would like to thank Barry, Tim, and Jeremy for all playing some part of release manager for this.
Yes, indeed!
You too Fred! The documentation wouldn't be nearly as useful, pretty, or standards compliant without you! xhtml-ish-ly y'rs, -Barry
[Brett]
... When can we start doing 2.4 work on HEAD?
Wait for Barry to Pronounce on that; there may be some last-second release branch checkins that need to be merged back into the HEAD.
I assume 2.3 will end up a maintenance branch that patches are to be back-ported to.
Right.
If that is true, what is the tag name (I assume release23-maint)?
If it's not release23-maint already, Barry will fix that <wink>.
What happens to 2.2 work? Since 2.3 will now be the last stable release should we even worry about backporting to 2.2? I know it has been said that 2.2 would be a very stable version that would be around for a while, but I think Martin said that once 2.3 was out we would not really worry about 2.2 .
Are there any preset goals of 2.4? The only one I know of off the top of my head is to prevent Guido from getting a pie to the face at OSCON 2004. =)
"Scratch your own itch." If you think 2.2.4 is a good idea, do some backporting for it; if Martin doesn't, that's cool too. I'm going to ignore the 2.2 line in my spare time (it doesn't scratch any itch I have). I don't know of concrete plans for 2.4 beyond finishing int/long unification; I expect Guido is going to need time to plot a new course given his new position and the dissolution of his group (although the observant have noticed that what PLabs does here has been dropping steadily since last year, we've been doing a pretty good job of maintaining an illusion of Pythonic vigor <wink>).
On Wed, 2003-07-30 at 00:34, Tim Peters wrote:
Wait for Barry to Pronounce on that; there may be some last-second release branch checkins that need to be merged back into the HEAD.
Anything between release23-branch and r23 should be ported into the head, but it's probably best to wait until Jack's done with the Mac release.
If that is true, what is the tag name (I assume release23-maint)?
If it's not release23-maint already, Barry will fix that <wink>.
Dang, I am tired. I mentioned in another message that the branch tag was release23-branch, and indeed that's what I created. I should have created the release23-maint branch, but I don't trust myself to do that tonight. If someone beats me to it tomorrow, that'd be fine. -Barry
Tim> "Scratch your own itch." If you think 2.2.4 is a good idea, do Tim> some backporting for it; if Martin doesn't, that's cool too. I'm Tim> going to ignore the 2.2 line in my spare time (it doesn't scratch Tim> any itch I have). I thought 2.2 was supposed to be Py-in-a-tie. I would think 2.2.4 would scratch the Python Business Forum's itch. Is there anybody from that august group listening to python-dev who can speak up about their plans? Skip
On Wednesday 30 July 2003 03:08 pm, Skip Montanaro wrote:
Tim> "Scratch your own itch." If you think 2.2.4 is a good idea, do Tim> some backporting for it; if Martin doesn't, that's cool too. I'm Tim> going to ignore the 2.2 line in my spare time (it doesn't scratch Tim> any itch I have).
I thought 2.2 was supposed to be Py-in-a-tie. I would think 2.2.4 would scratch the Python Business Forum's itch. Is there anybody from that august group listening to python-dev who can speak up about their plans?
The current proposal in the PBF mailing list is to move to 2.3 as "Python in a tie" as soon as 2.3's stability/solidity is widely confirmed. I have heard no voices against that idea so far, and just a few in favour (in July and/or August most European business slows down due to vacations, and most PBF members are in Europe). How that would play (in terms of time and dates) with the timing of a 2.2.4 release, I don't know. Alex
On Wed, 30 Jul 2003, Skip Montanaro wrote:
Tim> "Scratch your own itch." If you think 2.2.4 is a good idea, do Tim> some backporting for it; if Martin doesn't, that's cool too. I'm Tim> going to ignore the 2.2 line in my spare time (it doesn't scratch Tim> any itch I have).
I thought 2.2 was supposed to be Py-in-a-tie. I would think 2.2.4 would scratch the Python Business Forum's itch. Is there anybody from that august group listening to python-dev who can speak up about their plans?
This exact question is being discussed on the PBF mailing list. My vote was to go with 2.3 once it has been better battle-tested and major applications are ported to it. -Kevin -- -- Kevin Jacobs The OPAL Group - Enterprise Systems Architect Voice: (216) 986-0710 x 19 E-mail: jacobs@theopalgroup.com Fax: (216) 986-0714 WWW: http://www.theopalgroup.com
"Brett C."
What happens to 2.2 work? Since 2.3 will now be the last stable release should we even worry about backporting to 2.2? I know it has been said that 2.2 would be a very stable version that would be around for a while, but I think Martin said that once 2.3 was out we would not really worry about 2.2 .
Did I really say that? I would not mind making a 2.1.4 release, even. However, I don't think patches need to be backported to both 2.2 and 2.3 on a regular basis. Instead, if a patch seems "important enough" to whoever commits it, that person should back-port it right away, so that the release process for 2.2.4 does not involve a huge amount of backporting. If the PBF wants to have 2.2 more active than that, they would need to nominate a maintainer for it, IMO. Regards, Martin
On Tue, 2003-07-29 at 22:52, Brett C. wrote:
Woohoo! I know I would like to thank Barry, Tim, and Jeremy for all playing some part of release manager for this.
I'm just playing Monkey Release Boy here, but I think everyone will agree that Python 2.3 is a great release that would have been impossible without everyone on python-dev, pydotorg, etc. helping out. I'm so tired my XEmacs window is laughing at me, so forgive the rambling. :) But it is cool to see that Python is not only a model programming language, but a model open source community too. Thanks everyone! (man, software releases should have liner notes :)
Now, it's time for Brett's Newbie Questions!
When can we start doing 2.4 work on HEAD? I assume 2.3 will end up a maintenance branch that patches are to be back-ported to. If that is true, what is the tag name (I assume release23-maint)?
Now, and yes. The HEAD is currently open for Python 2.4 work and I just fiddled the version numbers. The maintenance branch is closed until Jack is finished with the MacOS9 release. He'll announce that and then he or I will fiddle those version numbers. The 2.3 maintenance branch is called "release23-branch".
What happens to 2.2 work? Since 2.3 will now be the last stable release should we even worry about backporting to 2.2? I know it has been said that 2.2 would be a very stable version that would be around for a while, but I think Martin said that once 2.3 was out we would not really worry about 2.2 .
Good questions. I think the answers are going to be evident from the time and effort that people put into backporting. Isn't the PBF's mission (or part of it) to make sure that there's a very stable long lived Python 2.2 branch (Py-in-a-tie)? If so, how can they help with Python 2.2 maintenance going forward?
Are there any preset goals of 2.4? The only one I know of off the top of my head is to prevent Guido from getting a pie to the face at OSCON 2004. =)
Yes, that should be our #1 priority! As soon as Guido gets his California legs, I'm sure he'll start posting about his overall plans for Python 2.4. Until then, get those PEPs rolling! As for how the process is going to be different now, your guess is as good as mine. As usual we'll make it up as we go along <wink>. key-of-e-ly y'rs, -Barry
participants (10)
-
Aahz -
Alex Martelli -
Barry Warsaw -
barry＠python.org
-
Brett C. -
Fred L. Drake, Jr. -
Kevin Jacobs -
martin＠v.loewis.de -
Skip Montanaro -
Tim Peters