[Python-Dev] Compiler for the Mac OS X version of Python 3.4

[Russell Owen]

I agree that a policy is a good idea, and I suggest it be primarily based on age, since we cannot assume Apple will release new versions of the OS on a given timeline.

I personally think too early to drop support for MacOS X 10.6 and am on the edge about 10.5.

-- Russell

On Sep 18, 2013, at 5:54 AM, "Martin v. Löwis" <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:

> Am 18.09.13 08:43, schrieb Gregory P. Smith:
>> Just drop support for 10.6 with Python 3.4. Problem solved. People on
>> that old of a version of the OS can build their own Python 3.4 or do the
>> right thing and upgrade or just install Linux.
>> 
>> This isn't Windows. Compiler tool chains are freely available for the
>> legacy platform. We don't need to maintain such a long legacy support
>> tail there ourselves.
> 
> I don't mind such a decision in principle, but also in principle, I'd
> prefer if there was a pre-set policy to decide this question, documented
> in PEP 11.
> 
> Here a piece of OSX release history:
> - 10.5:       October 2007
>  * 10.5.8:   August 2009
> - 10.6:       August 2009
>  * 10.6.8:   July 2011
> - 10.7:       July 2011
>  * 10.7.5:   July 2012
> - 10.8:       July 2012
> 
> So possible policy that would now exclude 10.6 for binary installers
> would be:
> 
> - only the two latest feature releases are supported
> - only feature releases younger than 3 years are supported
> 
> Note that a separate policy should be added to decide whether support
> for older versions is actively removed from source code (or equally
> bug fixes for old versions are not accepted anymore).
> 
> Regards,
> Martin
>