Mailing List Archive

Python 3.12.0 alpha 2 released
I'm pleased to announce the release of Python 3.12 alpha 2.

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3120a2/

*This is an early developer preview of Python 3.12*.

Major new features of the 3.12 series, compared to 3.11

Python 3.12 is still in development. This release, 3.12.0a2 is the second
of seven planned alpha releases.

Alpha releases are intended to make it easier to test the current state of
new features and bug fixes and to test the release process.

During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the
beta phase (2023-05-08) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up
until the release candidate phase (2023-07-31). Please keep in mind that
this is a preview release and its use is **not** recommended for production
environments.

Many new features for Python 3.12 are still being planned and written.
Among the new major new features and changes so far:

- Even more improved error messages. More exceptions potentially caused
by typos now make suggestions to the user.
- Support for the Linux perf profiler to report Python function names in
traces.
- The deprecated wstr and wstr_length members of the C implementation of
unicode objects were removed, per PEP 623
<https://peps.python.org/pep-0623>.
- In the unittest module, a number of long deprecated methods and
classes were removed. (They had been deprecated since Python 3.1 or 3.2).
- The deprecated smtpd and distutils modules have been removed (see PEP
594 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0594/> and PEP 632
<https://peps.python.org/pep-0632/>). The setuptools package (installed
by default in virtualenvs and many other places) continues to
provide the distutils
module.
- A number of other old, broken and deprecated functions, classes and
methods have been removed.
- (Hey, **fellow core developer,** if a feature you find important is
missing from this list, let Thomas know <thomas@python.org>.)


For more details on the changes to Python 3.12, see What's new in Python
3.12 <https://docs.python.org/dev/whatsnew/3.12.html>. The next pre-release
of Python 3.12 will be 3.12.0a3, currently scheduled for 2022-12-05.

More resources

Online Documentation <https://docs.python.org/3.12/>.
PEP 693 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0693/>, the Python 3.12
Release Schedule.
Report bugs via GitHub Issues <https://github.com/python/cpython/issues>.
Help fund Python and its community <https://www.python.org/psf/donations/>.

And now for something completely different

Life, believe, is not a dream
> So dark as sages say;
> Oft a little morning rain
> Foretells a pleasant day.
> Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
> But these are transient all;
> If the shower will make the roses bloom,
> O why lament its fall?
>
> Rapidly, merrily,
> Life's sunny hours flit by,
> Gratefully, cheerily,
> Enjoy them as they fly!
>
> What though Death at times steps in
> And calls our Best away?
> What though sorrow seems to win,
> O'er hope, a heavy sway?
> Yet hope again elastic springs,
> Unconquered, though she fell;
> Still buoyant are her golden wings,
> Still strong to bear us well.
>
> Manfully, fearlessly,
> The day of trial bear,
> For gloriously, victoriously,
> Can courage quell despair!


*Life*, by Charlotte Brontë, from *Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell*.

Charlotte wrote about the publishing under pseudonyms by her and her
sisters, Emily and Anne, in a preface to Emily's *Wuthering Heights*:

Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of
> Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort
> of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine,
> while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because – without at
> that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is
> called "feminine" – we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable
> to be looked on with prejudice; we had noticed how critics sometimes use
> for their chastisement the weapon of personality, and for their reward, a
> flattery, which is not true praise.


Enjoy the new releases

Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and
these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by
volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python
Software Foundation.

Regards from chilly Amsterdam,

Your release team,
Thomas Wouters
Ned Deily
Steve Dower

--
Thomas Wouters <thomas@python.org>