Web2py-3.0

[Dominic König]

Hi everyone--

I would like to share an update/explanation regarding Eden's compatibility
with newer web2py-3.0.

As you will have seen, Eden-6.0 is still stuck with web2py-2.27.1. This has
multiple reasons:

1) All web2py-3.0.x stable releases contain bugs - all of which concerning
PyDAL - and therefore doesn't play nicely with Eden.

It is possible to patch PyDAL, and I have a patched version of web2py-3.0.14
for testing purposes - but that is less than ideal when it comes to pull-
updateable deployments.

2) web2py-3.0 requires Python-3.11 or later. However, there are a number of
mission-critical deployments with major NGOs that are still running on
Debian-11, which has only Python-3.9 - and such deployments are notoriously
slow to upgrade their OS versions out of security concerns and due to the
required downtime.

So we will have to continue to support Python-3.9, and hence web2py-2.27.1
(the last 3.9-compatible release).

3) web2py-3.0 breaks some backwards-compatibility, so we will need to change
some things in Eden in order to make it work with web2py-3.0 - which in turn
would break web2py-2.27.1 compatibility, unless we wrap these changes in a
self-healing proxy class (like S3DAL), and test it thoroughly against both
web2py-versions.

So I have done some of these changes, and also begun some cursory testing
against the patched web2py-3.0.14, which looks promising. I have also proposed
my patch upstream to PyDAL, but not seen any result yet.

---

Bottomline: yes, we going to move to web2py-3.0 at some point during the 6.x
release series. I'm on it, but there are some unresolved issues hold things up
a little longer than usual. Time will solve it, I think.

If anyone wants to help with compatibility testing - let me know, then I can
share my patches with you.

Otherwise please deploy with Debian-12 and Python-3.11 - that is the
recommended target platform for now.

Dominic

[Dominic König]

Hello everyone--

an update on this issue:

The latest web2py-3.1.1 stable, and the PyDAL version it tracks, are almost
ready for us to adopt - there's only one remaining issue breaking the unit
tests (though I have not found any problem with it in the active code).

For this reason, I have created a PR that adapts Eden for web2py-3.1.1, which
also retains backwards-compatibility with web2py-2.27.1:
https://github.com/sahana/eden/pull/61

I have tested it with both web2py-versions, and it seems to work well.
However, both tests were run under Python-3.11, so we still need to test it
under Python-3.13 before we can release it.

Once reviewed and tested for Python-3.13, I will merge it and release it as
Eden-6.1, package it for Debian-13 as the new (recommended) target OS, and at
the same time end our support for Debian-11.

Help with testing under Python-3.13 is appreciated - please leave your
feedback as comments on the pull request.

Thank you!
Dominic

P.S. Note that Eden-6.1 would still run on Debian-11, but we would no longer
provide packages for it, and recommend active deployments to upgrade their OS.

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[Dominic König]

Also note that...

...the PR version works fine under Debian-12 (oldstable) under Python-3.11,
which is our current target - with either web2py version.

However, I have not yet decided which web2py version I would package Eden-6.1
with for Debian-12 - mainly because web2py-3 would require a patched PyDAL,
which complicates pull-updates a little.

On the other hand, retaining web2py-2 for one more release cycle will force us
to maintain backwards-compatibility for a while longer - and that gap can only
grow wider and become harder to bridge.

So, this is not ideal either way.

If you have an opinion on that, please feel free to discuss it here.

Dominic

[Dominic König]

Hello everyone--

onsdag 7 januari 2026 21:26:05 CET skrev Dominic König:

> The latest web2py-3.1.1 stable, and the PyDAL version it tracks, are almost
> ready for us to adopt - there's only one remaining issue breaking the unit
> tests (though I have not found any problem with it in the active code).

My patch for this issue has been merged upstream, so it will come with the
next web2py stable version.

I have therefore merged the PR (and fixed two more backwards-compatibility
issues that came up in the tests), and added web2py-3.1.1 to the list of
supported versions.

Note that web2py-3.1.1 (PyDAL 20251207.1) does not pass all of our unit tests,
but I did not find any issues in active code, so given that and the fact that
the PyDAL fix has been merged upstream, I think we can accept that and finally
move forward with web2py-3.

Of course - the testing on Debian-13 with Python-3.13 and web2py-3.1.1 is
still pending. If you can help with that, please do.

Dominic

[Dominic König]

...I tested on Debian-13/Python-3.13 now, and promptly found another issue in
the latest PyDAL - namely, the new default validators would crash for self-
references.

I could not find the root cause of the problem - but managed to work around it
by setting explicit validators on all self-references.

I regret having to delay the 6.1 release for yet another day ;) but this still
needs more testing. Sorry for that...

Dominic

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[Dominic König]

Hmm...

...and yet another issue in the latest PyDAL found.

This really isn't ready for production yet :/ but I'm afraid it never will be
unless we continue testing and fixing it - which we wouldn't if we were to
delay the move to web2py-3 even further.

But I cannot possibly release that yet... :(

Dominic

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/eden-asp/3406443.aeNJFYEL58%40aldebaran.

[Dominic König]

...one always wonders why an increase in the version number so often
translates into a perception of progress, when time and time again one finds
just as many issues in the newer version as one had fixed for the old version
before :/

It's so often just a different set of problems, not fewer problems.

Dominic