[Release] DataStax Python Driver 3.29.2 for Apache Cassandra

[Bret McGuire]

Greetings!  Today we've released Python Driver 3.29.2 for Apache Cassandra!

This release is the first to include official support for the recently released Apache Cassandra 5.0.x!  In addition to including Cassandra 5.0.x in our test matrix we've also expanded support for the vector type (introduced in Python driver 3.28.0) to include vectors of arbitrary subtypes.  PYTHON-1369 has additional information if you're curious.

As mentioned in my previous update on this release we've also continued taking steps to modernize the Python driver by converting our testing infrastructure to use pytest rather than nose.  You can find more information about this change at PYTHON-1297.

Following the policy outlined in our previous releases this Python driver release officially supports all Python runtimes that are not end-of-life at time of release.  For the 3.29.2 driver this means Python 3.8 through 3.12 are supported.  Wheels for these runtimes have been uploaded for Linux, OSX and Windows.

On the subject of wheels, a quick mention about an additional change which might interest our users on Windows platforms.  Beginning with this release the wheels for Windows will now include interface code for libev.  This change was made to facilitate the use of Python 3.12 on Windows since without this change no event loop would be available for this Python 3.29.2 on Windows (due to the removal of asyncore).  If you'd like to know more about this change please take a look at PYTHON-1386.

Docs for this release are just a bit delayed.  We'll have docs up soon on the usual site, but for now you can access the changelog (as well as the rest of our documentation) on Github.

Many thanks to all who educated fellow community members, made feature requests, contributed code, wrote documentation, and reported bugs. We encourage you to get involved too:

Discuss the driver and ask questions:
  - python-driver-user mailing list: https://groups.google.com/a/lists.datastax.com/forum/#!forum/python-driver-user
Review and contribute source code and documentation:
  - Driver for Apache Cassandra: https://github.com/datastax/python-driver
  - Report issues on JIRA: https://datastax-oss.atlassian.net/browse/PYTHON

Thanks!

- Bret -

[Bret McGuire]

   Greetins!  A quick follow up to my earlier announcement of the 3.29.2 release; our docs team has finished deploying the updated documentation!  The docs for the "3.29" version should now reflect accurate documentation for the 3.29.2 release.  You can find these docs here.

   Thanks all!

  - Bret -