Re:Why Is the Migration to Python 3 Taking So Long?
by bityard on Thursday November 14, 2019 @01:07PM
(#21537741)
> Python, unlike a C executable, could hypothetically stop working tomorrow.
No, it could not. Python itself is a C executable, which makes the distinction moot.
For some reason, a lot of people seem to be laboring under the impression that Python 2 code is just going to stop working in 2020. The only thing stopping is the Python core team's bug-fix releases. Python 2 itself will continue to exist. Existing installations will keep working. Linux distributions _can_ choose to keep Python 2 in their repositories and maintain it separately going forward, although they are not likely to. Ubuntu, Red Hat, and other OS providers all have operating systems which include Python 2 that they are contractually obligated to support and patch for years in the future. And of course, the source code for Python 2 will never just up and disappear within our lifetimes unless human civilization does as well.
As for businesses, if your application is mission-critical and you want to keep it going, then you get to decide whether to invest in keeping your application current with the state of the art, or invest in keeping the application's environment static. This means having a reliable source of the required hardware, archived copies of the OS, all dependencies and libraries, and the application itself. And presumably you still need someone knowledgeable enough to fix bugs in the stack from time to time.
No, it could not. Python itself is a C executable, which makes the distinction moot.
For some reason, a lot of people seem to be laboring under the impression that Python 2 code is just going to stop working in 2020. The only thing stopping is the Python core team's bug-fix releases. Python 2 itself will continue to exist. Existing installations will keep working. Linux distributions _can_ choose to keep Python 2 in their repositories and maintain it separately going forward, although they are not likely to. Ubuntu, Red Hat, and other OS providers all have operating systems which include Python 2 that they are contractually obligated to support and patch for years in the future. And of course, the source code for Python 2 will never just up and disappear within our lifetimes unless human civilization does as well.
As for businesses, if your application is mission-critical and you want to keep it going, then you get to decide whether to invest in keeping your application current with the state of the art, or invest in keeping the application's environment static. This means having a reliable source of the required hardware, archived copies of the OS, all dependencies and libraries, and the application itself. And presumably you still need someone knowledgeable enough to fix bugs in the stack from time to time.