[Python-Dev] Python 4 musings (was Re: Deleting with setting C API functions)

[Barry Warsaw]

On Dec 02, 2015, at 08:35 AM, Guido van Rossum wrote:

>I wholeheartedly agree with what Nick writes there

As do I.

One interesting point will be what *nix calls the /usr/bin thingie for Python
4.  It would seem weird to call it /usr/bin/python3 and symlink it to say
/usr/bin/python4.0 but maybe that's the most practical solution.  OTOH, by
2023, Python 2 will at worst be in source-only security release mode, if not
finally retired so maybe we can reclaim /usr/bin/python by then.  Oh well, PEP
394 will hash all that out I'm sure.

One other potentially disruptive change would be when Python's Einstein, er
David Beazley, finally cracks the nut of the GIL.  Should that require a new
backward incompatible C API, Python 4.0 would be the time to do it.

Cheers,
-Barry