Monday, June 28, 2021

Python 3.9.6, 3.8.11, 3.7.11, and 3.6.14 are now available

Python 3.9.6

Get it here: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-396/

Python 3.9.6 is the newest major stable release of the Python programming language, and it contains many new features and optimizations. There’s been 146 commits since 3.9.5 which is a similar amount compared to 3.8 at the same stage of the release cycle. See the change log for details.

On macOS, we encourage you to use the universal2 binary installer variant whenever possible. The legacy 10.9+ Intel-only variant will not be provided for Python 3.10 and the universal2 variant will become the default download for future 3.9.x releases. You may need to upgrade third-party components, like pip, to later versions once they are released. You may experience differences in behavior in IDLE and other Tk-based applications due to using the newer version of Tk. As always, if you encounter problems when using this installer variant, please check https://bugs.python.org for existing reports and for opening new issues.

The next Python 3.9 maintenance release will be 3.9.7, currently scheduled for 2021-08-30.

The First Security-Only Release of Python 3.8

Get it here: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3811/

Security content in this release contains three fixes. There’s also two fixes for 3.8.10 regressions. Take a look at the change log for details.

According to the release calendar specified in PEP 569, Python 3.8 is now in security fixes only stage of its life cycle: 3.8 branch only accepts security fixes and releases of those are made irregularly in source-only form until October 2024. Python 3.8 isn’t receiving regular bugfixes anymore, and binary installers are no longer provided for it. Python 3.8.10 was the last full bugfix release of Python 3.8 with binary installers.

Security releases of 3.7.11 and 3.6.14

Get them here:
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3711/
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3614/

Security content in those releases contains five fixes each. Check out the relevant change logs for 3.7.11 and 3.6.14 for details.

Similarly to 3.8, Python 3.7 and 3.6 are now in security fixes only stage of their life cycle. Python 3.7 will be providing them until June 2023 while Python 3.6 ends its life in December 2021.

We hope you enjoy the new releases

Your friendly release team,
Ned Deily @nad
Steve Dower @steve.dower
Łukasz Langa @ambv

at

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Python 3.10.0b3 is available

Summer is almost here (at least in half of the planet) and Python 3.10 is finishing baking in the oven. For those of you that want to taste it before is finally ready (and if you are a library developer, you certainly do!) you can have the second-to-last beta now, but be careful as is very hot :wink:

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3100b3/

This is a beta preview of Python 3.10

Python 3.10 is still in development. 3.10.0b3 is the third of four planned beta release previews. Beta release previews are intended to give the wider community the opportunity to test new features and bug fixes and to prepare their projects to support the new feature release.

We **strongly encourage** maintainers of third-party Python projects to **test with 3.10** during the beta phase and report issues found to [the Python bug tracker](https://bugs.python.org/) as soon as possible. While the release is planned to be feature complete entering the beta phase, it is possible that features may be modified or, in rare cases, deleted up until the start of the release candidate phase (Monday, 2021-08-02). Our goal is to have no ABI changes after beta 4 and as few code changes as possible after 3.10.0rc1, the first release candidate. To achieve that, it will be **extremely important** to get as much exposure for 3.10 as possible during the beta phase.

Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is **not** recommended for production environments.

Major new features of the 3.10 series, compared to 3.9

Many new features for Python 3.10 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far:

  • PEP 623 – Deprecate and prepare for the removal of the wstr member in PyUnicodeObject.
  • PEP 604 – Allow writing union types as X | Y
  • PEP 612 – Parameter Specification Variables
  • PEP 626 – Precise line numbers for debugging and other tools.
  • PEP 618 – Add Optional Length-Checking To zip.
  • bpo-12782: Parenthesized context managers are now officially allowed.
  • PEP 632 – Deprecate distutils module.
  • PEP 613 – Explicit Type Aliases
  • PEP 634 – Structural Pattern Matching: Specification
  • PEP 635 – Structural Pattern Matching: Motivation and Rationale
  • PEP 636 – Structural Pattern Matching: Tutorial
  • PEP 644 – Require OpenSSL 1.1.1 or newer
  • PEP 624 – Remove Py_UNICODE encoder APIs
  • PEP 597 – Add optional EncodingWarning
  • (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Pablo know.)

The next pre-release of Python 3.10 will be 3.10.0b4, currently scheduled for Saturday, 2021-07-10.

bpo-38605: from __future__ import annotations (PEP 563) used to be on this list in previous pre-releases but it has been postponed to Python 3.11 due to some compatibility concerns. You can read the Steering Council communication about it here to learn more.

More resources

And now for something completely different

There are no green stars. Why? In general, objects don't emit a single wavelength of light when they shine. Instead, they emit photons in a range of wavelengths. If you were to use some sort of detector that is sensitive to the wavelengths of light emitted by an object, and then plotted the number of them versus wavelength, you get a lopsided plot called a blackbody curve. For an object as hot as the Sun, that curve peaks at blue-green, so it emits most of its photons there. But it still emits some that are bluer, and some that are redder. When we look at the Sun, we see all these colors blended together. Our eyes mix them up to produce one color: white. A warmer star will put out more blue, and a cooler one redder, but no matter what, our eyes just won't see that as green. Due to how we perceive color, the only way to see a star as being green is for it to be only emitting green light. But as starts always emit radiation following the blackbody curve, that's pretty much impossible.

We hope you enjoy those new releases!

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.

Your friendly release team,

Pablo Galindo @pablogsal

Ned Deily @nad

Steve Dower @steve.dower

at

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Python 3.10.0b2 is available

After fighting with some release blockers, implementing a bunch of GC traversal functions, and fixing some pending reference leaks, we finally have Python 3.10.0 beta 2 ready for you! Thanks to everyone that helped to unblock the release!

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3100b2/

This is a beta preview of Python 3.10

Python 3.10 is still in development. 3.10.0b2 is the second of four planned beta release previews. Beta release previews are intended to give the wider community the opportunity to test new features and bug fixes and to prepare their projects to support the new feature release.

We **strongly encourage** maintainers of third-party Python projects to **test with 3.10** during the beta phase and report issues found to [the Python bug tracker](https://bugs.python.org/) as soon as possible. While the release is planned to be feature complete entering the beta phase, it is possible that features may be modified or, in rare cases, deleted up until the start of the release candidate phase (Monday, 2021-08-02). Our goal is to have no ABI changes after beta 4 and as few code changes as possible after 3.10.0rc1, the first release candidate. To achieve that, it will be **extremely important** to get as much exposure for 3.10 as possible during the beta phase.

Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is **not** recommended for production environments.

Major new features of the 3.10 series, compared to 3.9

Many new features for Python 3.10 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far:

  • PEP 623 – Deprecate and prepare for the removal of the wstr member in PyUnicodeObject.
  • PEP 604 – Allow writing union types as X | Y
  • PEP 612 – Parameter Specification Variables
  • PEP 626 – Precise line numbers for debugging and other tools.
  • PEP 618 – Add Optional Length-Checking To zip.
  • bpo-12782: Parenthesized context managers are now officially allowed.
  • PEP 632 – Deprecate distutils module.
  • PEP 613 – Explicit Type Aliases
  • PEP 634 – Structural Pattern Matching: Specification
  • PEP 635 – Structural Pattern Matching: Motivation and Rationale
  • PEP 636 – Structural Pattern Matching: Tutorial
  • PEP 644 – Require OpenSSL 1.1.1 or newer
  • PEP 624 – Remove Py_UNICODE encoder APIs
  • PEP 597 – Add optional EncodingWarning
  • (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Pablo know.)

The next pre-release of Python 3.10 will be 3.10.0b3, currently scheduled for Thursday, 2021-06-17.

bpo-38605: from __future__ import annotations (PEP 563) used to be on this list in previous pre-releases but it has been postponed to Python 3.11 due to some compatibility concerns. You can read the Steering Council communication about it here to learn more.

More resources

And now for something completely different

The Ehrenfest paradox concerns the rotation of a "rigid" disc in the theory of relativity. In its original 1909 formulation as presented by Paul Ehrenfest in relation to the concept of Born rigidity within special relativity, it discusses an ideally rigid cylinder that is made to rotate about its axis of symmetry. The radius R as seen in the laboratory frame is always perpendicular to its motion and should therefore be equal to its value R0 when stationary. However, the circumference (2πR) should appear Lorentz-contracted to a smaller value than at rest. This leads to the apparent contradiction that R = R0 and R < R0.

We hope you enjoy those new releases!

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.

Your friendly release team,

Pablo Galindo @pablogsal

Ned Deily @nad

Steve Dower @steve.dower

at