How many Leo users are still using Python3.6?

[vitalije]

Python3.6 is already deprecated (see here). Recently, new python importer is added to Leo which require minimum Python3.7. Rewriting it to support Python3.6 requires substantial work. Is it really necessary? Is there anyone who can't upgrade to Python3.7?

[tbp1...@gmail.com]

I think there may still be some Linux distros that provide 3.6 as their standard.  Not completely sure, though.

[Edward K. Ream]

On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 3:28 PM vitalije <vita...@gmail.com> wrote:

Python3.6 is already deprecated (see here). Recently, new python importer is added to Leo which require minimum Python3.7. Rewriting it to support Python3.6 requires substantial work. Is it really necessary? Is there anyone who can't upgrade to Python3.7?

This is a perennial question. I personally would be happy to require Python 3.9 (Python 3.10 was released over a year ago), but it's surprising how long-lived old python versions are.

In this case, a middle ground would be for the python importer to fail gracefully on python 3.6. I'm willing to consider this option.

BTW, there are known problems with the leoAst.py module on Python 3.8, but that's a separate issue. In any case, leoAst.py is less important than the python importer.

Edward

[jkn]

There is a distinction between those who *can* upgrade, and those who *will*, or *want to*.

I am a 'developer', and can upgrade, but haven't done so - still running Python 3.6 (and 2.7!). There must be many more in a similar position, or less able to upgrade

[Edward K. Ream]

On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 5:21 PM jkn <jkn...@nicorp.f9.co.uk> wrote:

There is a distinction between those who *can* upgrade, and those who *will*, or *want to*.

I am a 'developer', and can upgrade, but haven't done so - still running Python 3.6 (and 2.7!). There must be many more in a similar position, or less able to upgrade.

Thanks for these comments.

I think the way forward is to distinguish between the earliest python that Leo supports (3.6) and the recommended python for Leo (3.9+). This distinction will allow Leo to run in (slightly) degraded mode with python 3.6 while encouraging all Leonistas to upgrade to python 3.9 or 3.10. Imo, it is dangerous not to upgrade at least to python 3.9. One is asking for bugs, including security-related bugs. But that's Leo's users' problem.

The only things for me to do in this regard:

- Have the python importer quit with a message when running python 3.6.

- Update the installation docs.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Friday, January 14, 2022 at 4:05:25 AM UTC-5 Edward K. Ream wrote:

> I think the way forward is to distinguish between the earliest python that Leo supports (3.6) and the recommended python for Leo (3.9+).

...

> The only things for me to do in this regard:

- Have the python importer quit with a message when running python 3.6.

- Update the installation docs.

Both done in devel. All tests pass with python 3.6 and python.6.

Alas, @auto will not work on .py files when using python 3.6! If this causes major problems we'll revisit these decisions.

Edward

[Edward K. Ream]

On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 4:37 AM Edward K. Ream <edre...@gmail.com> wrote:

> The only things for me to do in this regard:

- Have the python importer quit with a message when running python 3.6.

- Update the installation docs.

Both done in devel. All tests pass with python 3.6 and python.6.

I meant to say, all tests pass with 3.6 and 3.9.

Edward

[Josef]

I am using Kubuntu LTS 20.04, which will still be supported for another year. It uses Python 3.8. I think it would be a major obstacle for Ubuntu LTS users to have to upgrade the Python version they are using. I have done that in the past, but it led to endless confusion between the versions and more importantly, I try to remain compatible with my colleagues at work, who all use either Ubuntu LTS or Debian.

Josef

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sun, Jan 16, 2022 at 8:43 AM Josef <joe...@gmx.net> wrote:

I am using Kubuntu LTS 20.04, which will still be supported for another year. It uses Python 3.8. I think it would be a major obstacle for Ubuntu LTS users to have to upgrade the Python version they are using. I have done that in the past, but it led to endless confusion between the versions and more importantly, I try to remain compatible with my colleagues at work, who all use either Ubuntu LTS or Debian.

Thanks for your comments. I think supporting python 3.6 indefinitely makes sense for Leo. It also makes sense to recommend python 3.9 or 3.10.

Edward