[Python-Dev] Smoothing the transition from Python 2 to 3

[Nick Coghlan]

On 8 June 2016 at 14:01, Neil Schemenauer <neil at python.ca> wrote:
> [I've posted something about this on python-ideas but since I now
> have some basic working code, I think it is more than an idea.]
>
> I think the uptake of Python 3 is starting to accelerate.  That's
> good.  However, there are still millions or maybe billions of lines
> of Python code that still needs to be ported.  It is beneficial to
> the Python ecosystem if this code can get ported.
>
> My idea is to make a stepping stone version of Python, between 2.7.x
> and 3.x that eases the porting job.  The high level goals are:
>
> - code coming out of 2to3 runs correctly on this modified Python
>
> - code that runs without warnings on this modified Python will run
>   correctly on Python 3.x.

As Victor noted, and as the porting guide describes in
https://docs.python.org/3/howto/pyporting.html#update-your-code, we've
determined that 2to3 isn't the best choice of tool for folks that
can't afford to immediately drop Python 2 support.

Once you switch to those now recommended more conservative migration
tools, the tool suite you request already exists:

- update your code with modernize or futurize
- check it still runs on Python 2.7
- check it doesn't generate warnings under 2.7's "-3" switch
- check it passes "pylint --py3k"
- check if it runs on Python 3.5

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia