(WIP) Python 2 sunsetting info/summary page

[brainwane]

Per my current engagement with the PSF, I'm writing a short FAQ about the Python 2 end of life. This will be a "one-page" (so, <750 words) FAQ-style document that we'll be prominently linking to on the python.org front page (#1498), and which will point to more detailed resources elsewhere. Our press release will point to this summary page.

I'm going to use this issue as a bit of a drafting space where I fill in an introduction and answers to the questions:

---

We are volunteers who make and take care of the Python programming language. We have decided that January 1, 2020, will be the day that we sunset Python 2. That means that we will not improve it anymore after that day, even if someone finds a security problem in it. You should upgrade to Python 3 as soon as you can.

Why are you doing this?

We need to sunset Python 2 so we can help Python users.

We released Python 2.0 in 2000. We realized a few years later that we needed to make big changes to improve Python. So in 2006, we started Python 3.0. Many people did not upgrade, and we did not want to hurt them. So, for many years, we have kept improving and publishing both Python 2 and Python 3.

But this makes it hard to improve Python. There are improvements Python 2 can't handle. And we have less time to work on making Python 3 better and faster.

And if many people keep using Python 2, then that makes it hard for the volunteers who use Python to make free software. https://python3statement.org/#sections50-why They can't use the good new things in Python 3 to improve the tools they make.

We did not want to hurt the people using Python 2. So, in 2008, we announced that we would sunset Python 2 in 2015, and asked people to upgrade before then. Some did, but many did not. So, in 2014, we extended that sunset till 2020.

How long is it till the sunset date?

https://pythonclock.org/ will tell you.

What will happen if I do not upgrade by January 1st, 2020?

If people find catastrophic security problems in Python 2, or in software written in Python 2, then volunteers will not help you. If you need help with Python 2 software, then volunteers will not help you. You will lose chances to use good tools because they will only run on Python 3 http://py3readiness.org/ , and you will slow down people who depend on you and work with you.

Some of these problems will start on January 1. Other problems will grow over time.

I wrote code in Python 2. How should I port it to Python 3?

Please read the official "Porting Python 2 Code to Python 3" guide https://docs.python.org/3/howto/pyporting.html . Please also read the Python 3 Statement Practicalities https://python3statement.org/practicalities/ for advice on sunsetting your Python 2 code.

I'm not sure whether I depend on any software written in Python 2. What should I do?

If you buy software or software support from vendors, ask them. If you pay developers or system administrators, ask them. If you don't have vendors or technical staff, then use https://pypi.org/project/caniusepython3/ to find out whether you depend on any software written in Python 2.

To find out more about whether specific tools can work with Python 3, look at https://pyreadiness.org/2.7/ , https://python3statement.org/ , and http://py3readiness.org/ .

I depend on some software written in Python 2. What should I do?

If you buy software or software support from vendors, ask them. If you pay developers or system administrators, ask them. If you don't have vendors or technical staff, then use https://pypi.org/project/caniusepython3/ to find out which tools you need to upgrade to Python 3.

Is there anyone who can help me?

Yes. If you can pay for extended support, talk to ActiveState https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-announce-list@python.org/message/FC4QUAACIZPHYJMNZCRYJAGJIFYOM4CA/ . If you can pay to hire someone to help you, post on the job board https://www.python.org/jobs/ or hire a consultant https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonConsulting . If you need free help from volunteers, look at https://www.python.org/about/help/ .

I didn't hear anything about this till just now. Where did you announce it?

We talked about it at software conferences, on the Python announcement mailing list, on official Python blogs, in textbooks and technical articles, on social media, and to companies that sell Python support.

How can I make sure announcements like this don't surprise me again?

Buy Python support from a vendor, or subscribe to the Python announcement mailing list https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-announce-list.python.org/ .

[insert list of links to more details here]

[brainwane]

For reference, this is meant to be concise, and to be very easy to read (readers include educators, engineers, executives, hobbyists, and so on). Its aim is to explain the situation, and to give someone talking points to explain to their management why transitioning is important and shouldn't be ignored. If time allows, I want to include some “how” examples of successful transitions completed by organizations.

[gvanrossum]

Looks good. There's some repetition (the two answers "If you buy software ..." are nearly the same) and occasionally it sounds a little too much like Randall Monroe's "Thing Explainer", but I know I'm not the target audience and I think it's a good idea to make this accessible to a very wide audience, including people with limited English skills. (This will also make it easier to translate!)

[brettcannon]

Looks good! Only key change I would make is not to use the phrase "free software" as that has specific connotations compared to open source software.

[jackiekazil]

@brainwane, this is great. I wanted to make a few suggested edits for clean up. These are less focused on changing the content and more about adding clarity. You don't have to accept them as they are suggestions. A doc seemed like an easier way to communicate those. Here it is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xB68Acf7bnsdRC3psqZUAkO7YGXaF-tSENhztjonvRU/edit?usp=sharing

I would also interested in giving a second draft a read if the timeline on this permits after you make any chances from the feedback you are receiving.

[mwichmann]

If you create this as a pull request, the inline reviewing tools will be available - you don't have to actually merge the pull request, it just makes it a lot more convenient to review.

[brainwane]

I've now posted the text (with the "free" in "free software" removed per Brett's note above) at https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2/ and will make further issues if I need to ask for reviews of further iterations.

@jackiekazil I did a diff and could not find any differences between what you'd put in the Google Doc and what I had in the WIP above. Maybe that's because I only have the ability to view the document, not suggest or accept changes?

[MostAwesomeDude]

I've already noted this through other official PSF channels, but it's worth pointing out that the most recent PyPy statement at https://morepypy.blogspot.com/2016/08/pypy-gets-funding-from-mozilla-for.html is not in harmony with this page. In particular:

PyPy's own position is that PyPy will support Python 2.7 forever---the RPython language in which PyPy is written is a subset of 2.7, and we have no plan to upgrade that.

Will the page be updated with additional information? As a downstream distro contributor, I am pushing to have PyPy replace CPython as the Python 2 interpreter, rather than removing Python 2 trees entirely.

[gvanrossum]

I'm not happy with PyPy's position, but I don't care that much about it either -- I don't think it makes much of a difference.

I very much doubt that PyPy will be enough for organizations that are currently struggling with the decision of what to do about their large legacy Python 2.7 code base. For example, at Dropbox, if we wanted to switch our production code to PyPy, we would have to go through the same amount of testing as we are planning to go through for the Python 3 transition, and we would have to deal with compatibility issues with a large collection of 3rd party code that wasn't written with PyPy in mind, including quite a few 3rd party extension modules.

So I'm not sure what action you want the PSF to take. What additional info would you like to see? An endorsement of PyPy as an alternative to porting to Python 3 will not be coming from the PSF -- we wish PyPy the best of luck with their own Python 3 transition, but we don't think they are a good alternative to dropping Python 2 support.

[nedbat]

Could you add some more clarification to this position? It seems odd to me that the page recommends contractors listed on a wiki page (therefore without vetting), but isn't willing to acknowledge the existence of long-standing alternative implementations of the language.

[gvanrossum]

I would have no problem with PyPy listing itself on that wiki page.

But I really don't want to encourage people to start thinking of PyPy 2.7 as a strategy for dealing with the Python 2.7 sunsetting -- this would increase support requests for 3rd party packages that are eager to start adopting Python 3 features such as asyncio or f-strings or non-comment type annotations.

[brainwane]

Hi. This is a work-in-progress page. I appreciate the feedback.

@nedbat I hear you. The flip side, as I see it, is: the official PSF position should be that Python users should, in general, upgrade to Python 3. And this page is aimed at novices (as you can probably tell from the phrasing) who don't have the domain knowledge to deal with "if you're in this situation, do foo; if you're in that situation, do bar." That's why the "I'm not sure whether I depend on any software written in Python 2. What should I do?", "I depend on some software written in Python 2. What should I do?", and "Is there anyone who can help me?" sections point people to paid support options where people can get individual guidance based on their situations.

Right now, the page says: "If you need free help from volunteers, look at this help page." If there are groups of volunteers who are specifically volunteering to help people (for free) deal with their Python 2.x migration questions and problems, we could add a section to https://www.python.org/about/help/ pointing to those groups. I'd be happy with one of those groups being PyPy!

[nedbat]

If people find catastrophic security problems in Python 2, or in software written in Python 2, then volunteers will not help you. If you need help with Python 2 software, then volunteers will not help you.

Surely you don't mean to speak for all volunteers everywhere? Can we make this language clearer? I'm an op in #python on Freenode. We are volunteers, and we won't ban questions about Python 2.