[Python-Dev] 3.2.0

[Terry Reedy]

On 2/17/2011 1:36 AM, Senthil Kumaran wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:34 AM, Terry Reedy<tjreedy at udel.edu>  wrote:
>
>> 'x.y' is known to be ambiguous and confusing.
>
> Not really.

Actually, to me, the confusion is slightly worse, and the reason to 
change slightly stronger, than I initially explained. Python x.y is a 
version of the *language*. CPython x.y.z is an occasional marked release 
of an *implementation*.

For instance, Python 3.2 is a version of the language and stdlib. It has 
been pretty well defined since new features were prohibited.

The 3.2 docs are the specification of Python 3.2 (with a few 
CPython-specific notes). The 3.2 docs will be continuously upgraded as 
deficiencies are noted and fixed. As I understand it, all patches are 
expected to leave the docs in an improved and buildable state, so that 
updates can be built and uploaded to the site frequently (daily?).

CPython 3.2.0 will be the first 'production' release of the CPython 
implementation of Python 3.2. It will be one in a series of 
approximation of an ideal bug-free 'CPython 3.2'. Some have already been 
released, more will come. Like the docs, the concrete CPython 3.2 
codebase will also be continuously upgraded. For various reasons, it 
will probably not always be buildable on all platforms and not always be 
production ready. For practical reasons, marked releases will be spaced 
some months apart.

So, for me, Python 3.2 is a now theoritically fixed version of the 
language. The Python 3.2 docs document that version, but will be 
upgraded as mistaked, ambiguities, and omissions are found. The CPython 
3.2 codebase is an evolving approximation of an ideal bug-free CPython 
3.2 (that will never be reached). And CPython 3.2.0 is an early snapshot 
release of that evolving codebase.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy