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DistributionsPushing Python3It has been almost exactly three years since the Python 3.0 release was announced. This release deliberately broke compatibility with version 2.x of the language, leaving a lot of old baggage behind with the idea of easing future development of both Python and programs written in Python. It is fair to say that Python3 has not yet displaced its predecessor; as can be seen on the Python3 wall of shame site, there is still a lot of Python2-only code out there and more continues to be written. Before writing off Python3 as a failure, though, it is worth looking at some of the work being done to push the transition to this version of the language, much of which is happening in the context of distributions.The most ambitious Python3 work, arguably, is happening at Ubuntu under the guidance of longtime Python hacker Barry Warsaw. The Ubuntu developers are working to port a number of desktop applications to Python3, with the idea of pushing the necessary changes upstream. If upstream is not receptive to the changes, Ubuntu will do the port regardless:
We want to get upstream package authors and application developers
to support Python 3 as much as possible. I hope there will be no
cases where a distro has to fork a package or application to
support Python 3, although we will do it if there's no other way.
Most likely for Ubuntu though, that would be pushing the changes
into Debian.
The list of specific applications has not been posted anywhere, but the long-term goal has been made quite clear:
Our goal is for the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS release (in April 2014) to
have no Python 2 on the release images, or in our "main" archive,
so everything you'd get on your desktop in a default install would
be Python 3. For the upcoming 12.04 LTS release, I'd be happy if
we had just a couple of Python 3 applications on the desktop by
default.
The other distribution that has done a lot of Python3-related work is Fedora, though, as described by Toshio Kuratomi, the emphasis is a bit different. There is no big push to port specific applications or to set a deadline for pushing Python2 out of the default install. The work, instead, is more low-level:
Unlike Barry's work with Ubuntu, though, we're mostly chiselling
around the edges; we're working at the level where there's a module
that someone needs to run something (or run some optional features
of something) that runs on python3.
The results of this work can be seen on the Fedora Python3 page. The Python3 interpreter itself was added in the Fedora 13 release; since then, work has gone into increasing the number of modules available for developers wanting to work on Python3 applications. Quite a bit of the necessary module support is now in place, but there is also still a long list of modules that have either not been ported to Python3, or that have not yet been packaged for Fedora. In comparison, the Debian Python3 page seems like a desultory effort. There are some reports that Python3 on Gentoo is currently a bit painful to use; Gentoo seems to be short of developers able to work in this area. OpenSUSE packages Python3, but there does not appear to be any public information about an organized push toward a transition there. These distributions, it seems, are mostly waiting to see what happens elsewhere. Distributors can play a major role in the adoption of major new language versions. Some of us still remember the pain caused by Red Hat's slow transition to Python2 many years ago. Nobody can accuse anybody of having acted with undue haste with regard to Python3, but it does seem that some distributors have decided that it is time to make something happen in that area. As that push gains momentum, we may be hearing more about Python3 in the next year or two.
Brief items Distribution quote of the week
Thing is, 3.0 (quilt) is an accepted source format, 3.0 (dpatch) isn't
(thankfully). It wasn't me who decided that, I didn't make 3.0 (quilt) a
"new standard". It's the people who migrate towards it who are making it
so. While dpatch and 3.0 (quilt) don't necessarily conflict, for the
vast majority of cases, 3.0 (quilt) should be an improvement over
dpatch, and that is one of the driving forces behind the deprecation.
Gergely Nagy
... My plan, which still stands, is to remove dpatch in 6 years time. I'm fairly sure we can come to an agreement within that timeframe.
Linux Mint 12 releasedThe much-hyped Linux Mint 12 release has been announced. There is plenty of new stuff in this release; see the "what's new" page, the release notes, and this LWN article for more information. "The Linux Mint 12 desktop is a mix of old and new. It's a brand new desktop but with traditional components. The new technology in Gnome 3 is exciting but the components contributed by MGSE make users feel at home. Linux Mint 12, like previous releases, and despite the fact that it's based on Gnome 3, looks and behaves like a Mint desktop."
Mageia 2 Alpha 1Mageia 2 Alpha 1 is available for testing. "Now it's time for everyone to test, test, test and report bugs - so that Mageia 2 will be in great shape for release in May. You will find more info on our freshly migrated wiki"
Distribution News openSUSE Advance discontinuation notice for openSUSE 11.3The SUSE Security Team and the SUSE sponsored openSUSE maintenance team will stop releasing updates for openSUSE 11.3 after January 16, 2012. "As a consequence, the openSUSE 11.3 distribution directory on our server download.opensuse.org will be removed from /distribution/11.3/ to free space on our mirror sites. The 11.3 directory in the update tree /update/11.3 will follow, some time after all updates have been published." It is possible that maintenance will continue through the Evergreen project, but that is not certain.Update: Some of the dates in the original advisory were incorrect. See this update for the correct dates.
Newsletters and articles of interest Distribution newsletters
People behind Debian: Stefano ZacchiroliRaphaël Hertzog interviews Debian project leader Stefano Zacchiroli. "As a project, we seem to be more appealing to packagers than to software developers. That is a pity given the amount of exciting coding tasks that are everywhere in Debian. Part of the reason we are not appealing to developers is that we are not particularly good at collecting coding tasks in a place where interested developers could easily pick them up. It also takes quite a bit of inside knowledge to spot infrastructure bugs and understand how to fix them."
CrunchBang 10 "Statler" refresh R20111125 (Linux Journal)Linux Journal takes a look at the latest version of CrunchBang. "In brief, it's a lightweight desktop OS that uses Debian Stable 6.0 as its base. The biggest change in the latest refresh is that the developer has jettisoned the Xfce version in order to become a pure Openbox distro. I'm a fan of Xfce, but I welcome the decision of developer Philip Newborough aka corenominal. The truth is that there are other Xfce based distros to choose from such as my personal current favorite, Xubuntu. One of the biggest challenges for a smaller Linux distro is to carve a useful niche for itself, and if this helps him to hone the Openbox experience, all the better."
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