[Python-Dev] Python version numbers

[Paul G]

Breaking this off from the pickle thread because it seems unrelated:

On 04/02/2018 06:57 PM, Lukasz Langa wrote:
> I think we need to get past thinking about "Python 2" vs. "Python 3". This frame of mind creates space for another mythical release of Python that will break all the compatibilities, something we promised not to do. A moving backward compatibility window that includes the last release still under security fixes seems like a good new framework for this.

Maybe this has already been discussed ad nauseum, but is the idea here that Python will stay on Python 3.x, but also start breaking backwards compatibility with old versions? That would seem to be a violation of semantic versioning.

I think if this is going to happen, it should either be that the major version number gets bumped with every compatibility-breaking release, or Python should switch to some form of calendrical versioning (which may amount to more or less the same thing, but be different enough that people won't freak out when you say Python 4 is coming): https://calver.org

Switching to CalVer is a pretty clear sign that there is now a "rolling backwards compatibility window", and it allows Python to skip right over the mythical "Python 4" and directly to "Python 21". Additionally, since the version number will be trivially predictable, deprecation warnings can actually include the version after which they will be dropped - so if a feature is slated to be removed 5 years after it is initially deprecated, just take the deprecation release version and add 5.

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/attachments/20180403/37fdc580/attachment.sig>