[Numpy-discussion] When to stop supporting Python 2.6?

[Christoph Deil]

> On 11 Dec 2015, at 07:52, Paul Hobson <pmhobson at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 4:20 AM, Julian Taylor <jtaylor.debian at googlemail.com <mailto:jtaylor.debian at googlemail.com>> wrote:
> On 12/09/2015 12:10 AM, Ralf Gommers wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 12:01 AM, Chris Barker <chris.barker at noaa.gov <mailto:chris.barker at noaa.gov>
> <mailto:chris.barker at noaa.gov <mailto:chris.barker at noaa.gov>>> wrote:
> 
>     drop 2.6
> 
>     I still don't understand why folks insist that they need to run a
>     (very)) old python on an old OS, but need the latest and greatest numpy.
> 
>     Chuck's list was pretty long and compelling.
> 
>     -CHB
> 
> 
> 
>     On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 1:38 AM, Sturla Molden
>     <sturla.molden at gmail.com <mailto:sturla.molden at gmail.com> <mailto:sturla.molden at gmail.com <mailto:sturla.molden at gmail.com>>> wrote:
> 
>         Charles R Harris <charlesr.harris at gmail.com <mailto:charlesr.harris at gmail.com>
>         <mailto:charlesr.harris at gmail.com <mailto:charlesr.harris at gmail.com>>> wrote:
> 
>         > As a strawman proposal, how about dropping moving to 2.7 and 3.4 minimum
>         > supported version next fall, say around numpy 1.12 or 1.13 depending on how
>         > the releases go.
>         >
>         > I would like to here from the scipy folks first.
> 
> 
> +1 for dropping Python 2.6, 3.2 and 3.3 after branching 1.11.x. We're
> already behind other projects like ipython, pandas and matplotlib as
> usual, so there really isn't much point in being the only project
> (together with scipy) of the core stack to keep on supporting more or
> less obsolete Python versions.
> 
> Ralf
> 
> 
> I don't see how that is a relevant point. NumPy is the lowest component of the stack, we have to be the last to drop support for Python 2.6. And we aren't yet the last even when only looking at the high profile components. Astropy still supports 2.6 for another release.
> Though by the time 1.11 comes out we might be so I'm ok with dropping it after that even when I'm not convinced we gain anything significant from doing so.
> 
> Purely from a user-perspective, I don't understand why the numpy team would want to continue support Python <= 2.6 and <= 3.3. The old versions of numpy aren't going anywhere, so they can still be used if, for example, you're stuck on a 6-yr old license of ArcGIS, and therefore stuck on Python 2.6
> 
> I started using Python with version 2.4 or 2.5 and there was zero discussion about supporting old Python 1.X versions then. I know those situations are aren't directly comparable, but when can we let the past go?
> -paul
>   
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Another numpy user here.

At work we have the old Scientific Linux 6, which has Python 2.6 and an old Numpy version.

For most of my work I want and often need a newer Python and Numpy, which I can install in $HOME with conda.

For the old system Python 2.6 the sysadmin would never install Numpy 1.12, even if it was supported.
The whole idea is to leave it alone to make sure it’s stable.

I don’t understand the use case.
Is there anyone that really needs to install the future Numpy 1.12 into very old Python 2.6 installs?

Christoph

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