[Python-Dev] Possible platforms to drop in 2.6

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Brett Cannon schrieb:
> I originally posted this list to python-3000 since I figured we could
> be more aggressive with Py3K, but Guido said I should move it over
> here and just be aggressive in 2.6.

Please follow PEP 11 in doing so. This means you cannot remove the code
in Python 2.6, only break the build with an error message. Actual
removal would be deferred to 2.7.

> So, here are the platforms I figured we should drop:
> 
> * AtheOS
> * BeOS

In both cases, the last maintainer should be contacted before the
platform is unsupported.

> I had SunoS 5 but Ronald Oussoren said that is actually Solaris
> through version 9, so I took that off.

It's actually *all* Solaris versions (up to 11).
Dropping support for 5.6 (Solaris 2.6) and earlier may be
an option; we have some special-cased code for 5.6.

> Several people have questioned AtheOS, but considering the site for
> the OS has not been updated since 2002 and it was a niche OS to begin
> with I doubt we really need the support.

IMO, that should really depend on active maintenance. Somebody should
confirm that Python 2.5 still compiles out of the box on that system,
and, if not, volunteer to fix it. If nobody does, we can remove the
code in 2.7.

> And I listed FreeBSD 2 as a drop since FreeBSD 3 seemed to have been
> released in 1999.  But if most users have upgraded by now (release 6
> is the most current) then we could consider dropping 3 as well.

This really should use the PEP 11 procedure: let configure fail
(early) on the system, and then remove support if nobody complains
(in 2.7 and 3k).

Regards,
Martin