Python 3.9.0a5 is now available for testing

On behalf of the entire Python development community, and the currently serving Python release team in particular, I’m pleased to announce the release of Python 3.9.0a5. Get it here:

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-390a5/

This is an early developer preview of Python 3.9

Python 3.9 is still in development. This releasee, 3.9.0a5 is the fifth of six planned alpha releases. Alpha releases are intended to make it easier to test the current state of new features and bug fixes and to test the release process. During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the beta phase (2020-05-18) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up until the release candidate phase (2020-08-10). Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments.

Major new features of the 3.9 series, compared to 3.8

Many new features for Python 3.9 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far:

• PEP 584, Union Operators in dict
• PEP 593, Flexible function and variable annotations
• PEP 602, Python adopts a stable annual release cadence
• BPO 38379, garbage collection does not block on resurrected objects;
• BPO 38692, os.pidfd_open added that allows process management without races and signals;
• BPO 39926, Unicode support updated to version 13.0.0
• BPO 1635741, when Python is initialized multiple times in the same process, it does not leak memory anymore
• A number of Python builtins (range, tuple, set, frozenset, list) are now sped up using PEP 590 vectorcall
• A number of standard library modules (audioop, ast, grp, _hashlib, pwd, _posixsubprocess, random, select, struct, termios, zlib) are now using the stable ABI defined by PEP 384.
• (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Łukasz know.)

The next pre-release, the last alpha release of Python 3.9, will be 3.9.0a6. It is currently scheduled for 2020-04-22. Until then, stay safe!

Python 3.7.7 is now available

Python 3.7.7, the next bugfix release of Python 3.7, is now available. You can find the release files, a link to the changelog, and more information here:

    https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-377/

   

Note that Python 3.8 is now the latest feature release series of Python 3. You should consider upgrading to it. Get the latest release of 3.8.x here. We plan to continue regular bugfix releases of Python 3.7.x through mid-year 2020 and provide security fixes for it until mid-year 2023.  More details are available in PEP 537, the Python 3.7 Release Schedule.

Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and these releases possible!  Please consider supporting our efforts by volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python Software Foundation.

Python 3.7.7rc1 is now available for testing

Python 3.7.7rc1, the release preview of the next maintenance release of Python 3.7, is now available for testing. Assuming no critical problems are found prior to 2020-02-10, no code changes are planned between this release candidate and the final release. The release candidate is intended to give you the opportunity to test the new security and bug fixes in 3.7.7. While we strive to not introduce any incompatibilities in new maintenance releases, we encourage you to test your projects and report issues found to bugs.python.org as soon as possible. Please keep in mind that, since this is a preview release, its use is not recommended for production environments.

You can find the release files, a link to the changelog, and more information here:

    https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-377rc1/