[python-committers] Python 3.6 Release Schedule Details

[Ned Deily]

FYI - I've just updated PEP 494 with a fleshed-out 3.6.0 release schedule.  The 3.6 schedule is generally similar to the successful 18-month development and release cycle used in recent releases but with a few significant changes.  The main difference is that the 3.6 schedule takes advantage of the earlier creation of the 3.5 branch (Thanks, Larry!), which allowed code for 3.6 to be checked in starting at 3.5.0beta1, rather than later at release candidate 1 as in previous release cycles.  This provides an additional 11 weeks of overlap between 3.5.0 and 3.6.0, accelerating the release date for 3.6.0 without significantly reducing the overall release cycle duration.

Another change has been to add a fourth beta and drop the third release candidate.  My gut feeling from the past several releases is that a lot of feature code does not get checked in until close to the b1 feature code cutoff so that extending the beta phase should result in more testing exposure for all features.  And I would like to reduce the amount of churn during the release candidate phase: a worthy goal is to make no changes after rc1, so that an rc2 would be be made only if absolutely necessary.

Also note that the alpha1 build is scheduled for two weeks before PyCon 2016 and alpha2 will occur a week after the conclusion of the PyCon development sprints.  Beta1, the feature code cutoff, occurs at the beginning of September just after the US Labor Day holiday and the traditional end of summer, with the final release in mid-December 2016.

A comparison between the 3.5.0 and 3.6.0 release cycles shows the differences (in days):

    phase   3.5.0  3.6.0
    ======  =====  =====
    dev       363    357
    alpha     105    114
    beta       77     89
    rc         35     14
    total     580    574

As always, the schedule will be subject to changes as necessary - and comments welcomed - but I'm hoping that with this schedule we will be able to once again achieve a high-quality release and still be able to move the release date up without straining our development, testing, and release team resources.  So keep those PEPs, other features, and bug fixes coming in.  In the immortal words of Larry: "Let the wild rumpus begin!"

--Ned


PEP: 494
Title: Python 3.6 Release Schedule
Last-Modified: 01-Oct-2015
Author: Ned Deily <nad at acm.org>
Status: Active
Type: Informational
Content-Type: text/x-rst
Created: 30-May-2015
Python-Version: 3.6


Abstract
========

This document describes the development and release schedule for
Python 3.6.  The schedule primarily concerns itself with PEP-sized
items.


Release Manager and Crew
========================

- 3.6 Release Manager: Ned Deily
- Windows installers: Steve Dower
- Mac installers: Ned Deily
- Documentation: Georg Brandl


3.6 Lifespan
============

3.6 will receive bugfix updates approximately every 3-6 months for
approximately 18 months.  After the release of 3.7.0 final, a final
3.6 bugfix update will be released.  After that, it is expected that
security updates (source only) will be released until 5 years after
the release of 3.6 final, so until approximately December 2021.


Release Schedule
================

3.6.0 schedule
--------------

- 3.6 development begins: 2015-05-24
- 3.6.0 alpha 1: 2016-05-15
- 3.6.0 alpha 2: 2016-06-12
- 3.6.0 alpha 3: 2016-07-10
- 3.6.0 alpha 4: 2016-08-07
- 3.6.0 beta 1: 2016-09-07

(No new features beyond this point.)

- 3.6.0 beta 2: 2016-10-02
- 3.6.0 beta 3: 2016-10-30
- 3.6.0 beta 4: 2016-11-20
- 3.6.0 candidate 1: 2016-12-04
- 3.6.0 candidate 2 (if needed): 2016-12-11
- 3.6.0 final: 2016-12-16


Features for 3.6
================

Proposed changes for 3.6:

* PEP 447, Add __getdescriptor__ method to metaclass
* PEP 498, Literal String Formatting
* PEP 499, python -m foo should bind sys.modules['foo'] in additon
  to sys.modules['__main__']
* PEP 501, Translation ready string interpolation


Copyright
=========

This document has been placed in the public domain.

--
  Ned Deily
  nad at acm.org -- []