Release Date: Sept. 23, 2003

patch release release which supersedes earlier releases of 2.3.</i> </blockquote>

<blockquote>

<b>Important:</b> This release is vulnerable to the problem described in <a href="/news/security/PSF-2006-001/">security advisory PSF-2006-001</a> "Buffer overrun in repr() of unicode strings in wide unicode builds (UCS-4)". This fix is included in <a href="../2.4.4/">Python 2.4.4</a> and <a href="../2.5/">Python 2.5</a>. If you need to remain with Python 2.3, there's a patch available from the security advisory page.

</blockquote>

<blockquote> <b>Important: 2.3.5 includes a <a href="/news/security/PSF-2005-001/" >security fix</a> for SimpleXMLRPCServer.py.</b> </blockquote>

<p>We are pleased to announce the release of <b>Python 2.3.1</b> on September 23, 2003. This is a bug-fix release for Python 2.3 and supersedes the original <a href="../2.3/">Python 2.3</a> release.

<p>No new features have been added in Python 2.3.1. Instead, this release is the result of two months of bug hunting. A number of obscure bugs that could cause crashes have been fixed, as well as a number of memory leaks.</p>

<p>Please see the separate <a href="bugs">bugs page</a> for known issues and the bug reporting procedure.

<h3>Download the release</h3>

<p><b>Windows</b> users should download the Windows installer, <a href="/ftp/python/2.3.1/Python-2.3.1.exe">Python-2.3.1.exe</a>, run it and follow the friendly instructions on the screen to complete the installation. Windows users may also be interested in Mark Hammond's <a href="http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/" >win32all</a>, a collection of Windows-specific extensions including COM support and Pythonwin, an IDE built using Windows components.</p>

<p>RPMs suitable for Redhat and source RPMs for other RPM-using operating systems are available from <a href="rpms">the RPMs page</a>.

<p><b>All others</b> should download <a href="/ftp/python/2.3.1/Python-2.3.1.tgz">Python-2.3.1.tgz</a>, the source archive. Unpack it with "tar&nbsp;-zxvf&nbsp;Python-2.3.1.tgz". Change to the Python-2.3.1 directory and run the "./configure", "make", "make&nbsp;install" commands to compile and install Python.

<!-- <p><b>Macintosh</b> users can find binaries and source on Jack Jansen's <a href="http://homepages.cwi.nl/~jack/macpython/">MacPython page</a>. Mac OS X users who have a C compiler (which comes with the <a href="http://developer.apple.com/tools/macosxtools.html">OS X Developer Tools</a>) can also build from the source tarball below. -->

<h3>What's New?</h3>

<ul>

<li>See the <a href="../2.3/highlights">highlights</a> of the Python 2.3 release. As noted, the 2.3.1 release is a bugfix release of 2.3.

<p><li>The Windows installer now includes the documentation in searchable htmlhelp format, rather than individual HTML files. You can still download the <a href="/ftp/python/doc/2.3.1/">individual HTML files</a>.

<p><li>Andrew Kuchling's <a href="/doc/2.3/whatsnew/">What's New in Python 2.3</a> describes the most visible changes since <a href="../2.2.3/">Python 2.2</a> in more detail.

<p><li>A detailed list of the changes is in the <a href="NEWS.txt">release notes</a>, or the <tt>Misc/NEWS</tt> file in the source distribution.

<p><li>For the full list of changes, you can poke around in <a href="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=5470">CVS</a>, or see the <a href="ChangeLog.txt">ChangeLog</a> of individual checkin messages since 2.3.

<p><li>The PSF's <a href="/psf/press-release/pr20030923">press release</a> announcing 2.3.1.

</ul>

<h3>Documentation</h3>

<p>The documentation has been updated too:

<ul>

<li><a href="/doc/2.3.1/">Browse HTML documentation on-line</a>

<li>Download using <a href="/ftp/python/doc/2.3.1/">HTTP</a>.

</ul>

<p>The <a href="../2.2.3/descrintro">interim documentation for new-style classes</a>, last seen for Python 2.2.3, is still relevant for Python 2.3.1. Raymond Hettinger has also written a <a href="http://users.rcn.com/python/download/Descriptor.htm">tutorial on descriptors</a>, introduced in Python 2.2. In addition, <a href="/download/releases/2.3/mro">The Python 2.3 Method Resolution Order</a> is a nice paper by Michele Simionato that explains the C3 MRO algorithm (new in Python 2.3) clearly. (Also available as <a href="/download/releases/2.3/mro/mro.txt">reStructured Text</a>. Copied with permission.)

<h3>Files, <a href="md5sum.py">MD5</a> checksums, signatures, and sizes</h3>

<pre> a3dcbe1c7f173c8e3c7cce28495016ae <a href="/ftp/python/2.3.1/Python-2.3.1.tgz">Python-2.3.1.tgz</A> (8558611 bytes, <a href="Python-2.3.1.tgz.asc">signature</a>) 2cff4d8a54ad3535376b7bce57538f7a <a href="/ftp/python/2.3.1/Python-2.3.1.exe">Python-2.3.1.exe</A> (9583272 bytes, <a href="Python-2.3.1.exe.asc">signature</a>) </pre>

<p>The signatures above were generated with <a href="http://www.gnupg.org">GnuPG</a> using the release manager's (Anthony Baxter) <a href="/download#pubkeys">public key</a> which has a key id of 6A45C816.

<p>&nbsp;

Full Changelog