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Python 3.8.1rc1

Release Date: Dec. 10, 2019

This is the release candidate of Python 3.8.1, the first maintenance release of Python 3.8

Note: The release you're looking at is Python 3.8.1rc1, a bugfix release for the legacy 3.8 series. Python 3.11 is now the latest feature release series of Python 3. Get the latest release of 3.11.x here.

Major new features of the 3.8 series, compared to 3.7

  • PEP 572, Assignment expressions
  • PEP 570, Positional-only arguments
  • PEP 587, Python Initialization Configuration (improved embedding)
  • PEP 590, Vectorcall: a fast calling protocol for CPython
  • PEP 578, Runtime audit hooks
  • PEP 574, Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data
  • Typing-related: PEP 591 (Final qualifier), PEP 586 (Literal types), and PEP 589 (TypedDict)
  • Parallel filesystem cache for compiled bytecode
  • Debug builds share ABI as release builds
  • f-strings support a handy = specifier for debugging
  • continue is now legal in finally: blocks
  • on Windows, the default asyncio event loop is now ProactorEventLoop
  • on macOS, the spawn start method is now used by default in multiprocessing
  • multiprocessing can now use shared memory segments to avoid pickling costs between processes
  • typed_ast is merged back to CPython
  • LOAD_GLOBAL is now 40% faster
  • pickle now uses Protocol 4 by default, improving performance

There are many other interesting changes, please consult the "What's New" page in the documentation for a full list.

More resources

Windows users

  • The binaries for AMD64 will also work on processors that implement the Intel 64 architecture. (Also known as the "x64" architecture, and formerly known as both "EM64T" and "x86-64".)
  • There are now "web-based" installers for Windows platforms; the installer will download the needed software components at installation time.
  • There are redistributable zip files containing the Windows builds, making it easy to redistribute Python as part of another software package. Please see the documentation regarding Embedded Distribution for more information.

macOS users

  • For Python 3.8.0, we provide one installer: 64-bit-only that works on macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later systems.
  • Please read the "Important Information" displayed during installation for information about SSL/TLS certificate validation and the running the "Install Certificates.command".

And now for something completely different


First Pilot: This is Captain MacPherson welcoming you aboard East Scottish Airways. You'll have had your tea. Our destination is Glasgow. There is no need to panic.
(The door of the cockpit opens and Mr Badger comes in.)
Badger: There's a bomb on board this plane, and I'll tell you where it is for a thousand pounds.
Second Pilot: I don't believe you.
Badger: If you don't tell me where the bomb is... if I don't give you the money... Unless you give me the bomb...
Stewardess: The money.
Badger: The money, thank you, pretty lady... the bomb will explode killing everybody.
Second Pilot: Including you.
Badger: ...
Badger: I'll tell you where it is for a pound.
Second Pilot: Here's a pound.
Badger: I don't want Scottish money. They've got the numbers. It can be traced.
Second Pilot: One English pound. Now where's the bomb?
Badger: I can't remember.
Second Pilot: You've forgotten?
Badger: Aye, you'd better have your pound back.

Full Changelog

Files

Version Operating System Description MD5 Sum File Size GPG
Gzipped source tarball Source release e5083ec52899fb78fe0300d628a0a777 22.9 MB SIG
XZ compressed source tarball Source release 5176ecefb5b93b5650ae061eaf1497bd 17.0 MB SIG
macOS 64-bit installer macOS for OS X 10.9 and later 4e01919918531a67dc5237e1e3b43eaa 27.7 MB SIG
Windows help file Windows 0693a164ba91eb332f5d45421c4d1994 8.1 MB SIG
Windows x86 embeddable zip file Windows b2968d2b223844b9aa99034494752144 6.8 MB SIG
Windows x86 executable installer Windows 3e755b250c351a6b216d13ca2dc38158 25.2 MB SIG
Windows x86 web-based installer Windows dd61345cb4d3d7f570b20c8408cf68be 1.3 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 embeddable zip file Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 78a4437c30cdc4d234dac8d7f38664d4 7.6 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 executable installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 e2bb2e56804701d7c3736d5726292db2 26.3 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 web-based installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 d93fb329cc21eb571b0486a4f3ba9ef2 1.3 MB SIG