[Python-Dev] [RELEASED] Python 2.7 alpha 2

[Brett Cannon]

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 17:44, Neil Schemenauer <nas at arctrix.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 12:09:08PM -0800, Brett Cannon wrote:
> > I don't think ending the 2.x series at 2.7 makes it look bad
> > compared to 3.2; it's simply the end of a development line like
> > any other software project. I suspect 2.7 will have a protracted
> > bugfix window because so much code runs on 2.x exclusively at the
> > moment.
>
> I would guess over 99% of all Python code written doesn't run on
> Python 3.  Given that, I think it is premature to close the door on
> new major versions of Python 2.x.


Well yeah; Python 3.0 is just over a year old with 3.1 -- the first robust
3.x release - is about six months old. From the beginning uptake was
expected to take years, not months, so saying that 3.x is not popular enough
seems premature.


> Also, we as a project should be
> careful not to present the image that Python 2.x will not be
> supported in the future.
>

No one has said bugfixes will cease.


>
> > If there really is an outcry on this we can re-visit the issue,
> > but as of right now we need to move forward at some point and 2.7
> > seems like that good point.
>
> I think that's bad PR.  If I had a successful product, I would not
> announce its end of life just to see how many customers scream and
> then decide if I should devote more resources to continue
> maintaining it.
>
>
I never said that I wanted to make this announcement specifically to provoke
outcries. I said if there happened to be outcries we could possibly visit
the issue again. Basically I was being considerate and trying to leave the
door open to discuss things in the future even though I don't see the
situation changing.


> IMHO, the release notes should say something like:
>
>     After the Python 2.7 release, the focus of Python development
>     will be on Python 3.  There will continue to be maintainance
>     releases of Python 2.x.
>

No because that suggests new features will be coming to 2.x which is not
going to happen. If you want to say there will be continual bugfix releases
for 2.7 as is par the course for Python and that the number of bugfix
releases might be more than normal then I am okay with that.


>
>
> trying-to-head-off-the-python-is-dying-meme-ly y'rs Neil
>

That came and went already a couple months ago when we discussed stopping at
2.6 instead of 2.7 (see the various threads at
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-November/thread.html).

-Brett
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