[Numpy-discussion] Proposal of timeline for dropping Python 2.7 support

Fri Nov 17 08:33:31 EST 2017

I've actually engaged with him on Twitter too but just to repeat one part
here : scarce academic resources to maintain code is not an argument. Out
of all places, it is academia that should have come up with or should have
contributed greatly to open-source instead of paper-writing frenzy among
each other. As many people already have written many blog posts/tweets etc.
academia does not value software as scientific products but demand software
continuously. As an ex-academician I can safely ignore that
argument.Scientific code is expected to be maintained properly. I
understand the sentiment but blocking progress because of legacy code is a
burden on the posterity and a luxury for the past.

On Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 1:35 PM, Peter Cock <p.j.a.cock at googlemail.com>
wrote:

> Since Konrad Hinsen no longer follows the NumPy discussion list
> for lack of time, he has not posted here - but he has commented
> about this on Twitter and written up a good blog post:
>
> http://blog.khinsen.net/posts/2017/11/16/a-plea-for-
> stability-in-the-scipy-ecosystem/
>
> In a field where scientific code is expected to last and be developed
> on a timescale of decades, the change of pace with Python 2 and 3
> is harder to handle.
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter
>
> On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 2:19 AM, Nathaniel Smith <njs at pobox.com> wrote:
> > Apparently this is actually uncontroversial, the discussion's died
> > down (see also the comments on Chuck's PR [1]), and anyone who wanted
> > to object has had more than a week to do so, so... I guess we can say
> > this is what's happening and start publicizing it to our users!
> >
> > A direct link to the rendered NEP in the repo is:
> > https://github.com/numpy/numpy/blob/master/doc/neps/
> dropping-python2.7-proposal.rst
> >
> > (I guess that at some point it will also show up on docs.scipy.org.)
> >
> > -n
> >
> > [1] https://github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/10006
> >
> > On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 5:52 PM, Nathaniel Smith <njs at pobox.com> wrote:
> >> Fortunately we can wait until we're a bit closer before we have to
> >> make any final decision on the version numbering :-)
> >>
> >> Right now though it would be good to start communicating to
> >> users/downstreams about whatever our plans our though, so they can
> >> make plans. Here's a first attempt at some text we can put in the
> >> documentation and point people to -- any thoughts, on either the plan
> >> or the wording?
> >>
> >> ---- DRAFT TEXT - NOT FINAL - DO NOT POST THIS TO HACKERNEWS OK? OK ----
> >>
> >> The Python core team plans to stop supporting Python 2 in 2020. The
> >> NumPy project has supported both Python 2 and Python 3 in parallel
> >> since 2010, and has found that supporting Python 2 is an increasing
> >> burden on our limited resources; thus, we plan to eventually drop
> >> Python 2 support as well. Now that we're entering the final years of
> >> community-supported Python 2, the NumPy project wants to clarify our
> >> plans, with the goal of to helping our downstream ecosystem make plans
> >> and accomplish the transition with as little disruption as possible.
> >>
> >> Our current plan is as follows:
> >>
> >> Until **December 31, 2018**, all NumPy releases will fully support
> >> both Python 2 and Python 3.
> >>
> >> Starting on **January 1, 2019**, any new feature releases will support
> >> only Python 3.
> >>
> >> The last Python-2-supporting release will be designated as a long-term
> >> support (LTS) release, meaning that we will continue to merge
> >> bug-fixes and make bug-fix releases for a longer period than usual.
> >> Specifically, it will be supported by the community until **December
> >> 31, 2019**.
> >>
> >> On **January 1, 2020** we will raise a toast to Python 2, and
> >> community support for the last Python-2-supporting release will come
> >> to an end. However, it will continue to be available on PyPI
> >> indefinitely, and if any commercial vendors wish to extend the LTS
> >> support past this point then we are open to letting them use the LTS
> >> branch in the official NumPy repository to coordinate that.
> >>
> >> If you are a NumPy user who requires ongoing Python 2 support in 2020
> >> or later, then please contact your vendor. If you are a vendor who
> >> wishes to continue to support NumPy on Python 2 in 2020+, please get
> >> in touch; ideally we'd like you to get involved in maintaining the LTS
> >> before it actually hits end-of-life, so we can make a clean handoff.
> >>
> >> To minimize disruption, running 'pip install numpy' on Python 2 will
> >> continue to give the last working release in perpetuity; but after
> >> January 1, 2019 it may not contain the latest features, and after
> >> January 1, 2020 it may not contain the latest bug fixes.
> >>
> >> For more information on the scientific Python ecosystem's transition
> >> to Python-3-only, see: http://www.python3statement.org/
> >>
> >> For more information on porting your code to run on Python 3, see:
> >> https://docs.python.org/3/howto/pyporting.html
> >>
> >> ----
> >>
> >> Thoughts?
> >>
> >> -n
> >>
> >> On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Marten van Kerkwijk
> >> <m.h.vankerkwijk at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> In astropy we had a similar discussion about version numbers, and
> >>> decided to make 2.0 the LTS that still supports python 2.7 and 3.0 the
> >>> first that does not.  If we're discussing jumping a major number, we
> >>> could do the same for numpy.  (Admittedly, it made a bit more sense
> >>> with the numbering scheme astropy had adopted anyway.) -- Marten
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> NumPy-Discussion mailing list
> >>> NumPy-Discussion at python.org
> >>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Nathaniel J. Smith -- https://vorpus.org
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Nathaniel J. Smith -- https://vorpus.org
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