When will GAE Python 2.7 be shutdown

[Sajal Gupta]

Hi,

We understand that Python 2.7 has been deprecated and Google is advising customers to move to Python 3.7 for GAE.

However, given that, there are several things in works at google related to moving to Python 3.7, e.g.

1. Dev_appserver still works only on python 2.7

2. Google has recently release memcache and taskqueue support for Python 3,7 and it is still in beta

3. Etc.

Given this, is it possible to get some guidance on 

1.Timeline by which we will have general availability of the memcache and task queue etc services

2. the timeline by which python 2.7 will be shutdown - if at all there is a plan to shut it down.

3. How much advance notice would the customers get before Python 2.7 services are shutdown.

Thank you

Sajal

[Alejandro L]

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

As you mention, Python has ended support for versions 2.x, and we do encourage our users to use a 3.x version. However, I would like to answer all your questions, point by point:

0 - Dev_appserver does indeed have support for Python 3, which you can find here [1].

1 - GAE still supports many 2.x bundled services in the Python 3 runtime, including memcache and task queue. You can find more information about this in this paragraph [2] from the migrate to Python 3 page, and in this link [3]. However, currently, the recommendation is to consider migrating to unbundled Google Cloud products [4]. There is a feature request about this which you can follow in this link [5].

2 - Currently we do not have any information about ending Python 2.x support.

3 - As mentioned in the Google Cloud Platform Terms of Service [6], there will be at least 12 months notice before a discontinuation of any service in Google Cloud. We will also ensure that any transition goes as smoothly as possible, and provide support for any doubts about any discontinuation.

I hope this answers all your questions.

[1]: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/python3/tools/using-local-server

[2]: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/python/migrate-to-python3#services

[3]: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/python3/services/access

[4]: https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard/python/migrate-to-python3/migrating-services

[5]: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/131333728

[6]: https://cloud.google.com/terms/?skip_cache=true#:~:text=(d)%C2%A0Discontinuation%20of,offerings%2C%20or%20functionality

[Sajal Gupta]

Thanks Alejandro.

dev_appserver: The challenge seems to be that it needs python 2 installation for it to support python 3.x. So, looks like dev_appserver is still not "native" to python 3.x.And possibly due to this, I am not able to run dev_appserver in debugger mode for python 3.x applications.  That is what I meant about dev_appserver not being available fully for python 3.x. 

Bundled services: Yes, I looks like now memcache and task queue is being made available for python 3.x and these seem to be in beta as of now. However, from what I understand, search  is not available as yet unless there is a concrete plan to make it available for 3.x. The current suggestion for search seems to be host our own on Kubernetes, which defeats the whole purpose of someone using Google App Engine - which hides all the infra from the developers.

So, unless, the unstated intent of Google team is to move people away from App Engine eventually, current, proposed migration path is not helping.

Notice of termination of python 2.x: Thank you. This helps.

Regards

Sajal

[w c]

Hi again,

1. dev_appserver: I replied in my other email that the tool currently is available for Python 3 but still requires some components from 2.7 to function properly and suggested you can file an external bug to make it fully functional in 3.x.
2. bundled services: Google has made available as many of the bundled services as possible, but unfortunately there's currently no plan on making search available in the next generation runtimes. It is currently recommended to migrate to Elastic Search using a Compute Engine VM as recommended here. The goal is not "to move people away from App Engine," but to make developers' apps more portable, so they can take their apps elsewhere if App Engine isn't the right fit for their needs (removing the notion of "vendor lock-in") by encouraging developers to migrate away from those legacy bundled services. They are strickly a migration tool to ease upgrading to Python 3 and will not receive any new features... all of the innovation is going into any standalone Cloud equivalent services.
3. 2.x support: As Alejandro alluded to, there are no current plans to shutdown the Python 2 runtime, even with the sunset of Python 2, older Java, PHP 5, and Go versions older than 1.11, by their respective communities. Google Cloud has assured users by expressing continued long-term support of these legacy runtimes, including maintaining the Python 2 runtime. So while there is no requirement for users to migrate to Python 3 at this time, developers like you are expressing interest in updating their applications to the latest language releases.

Best regards,

--Wesley

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"A computer never does what you want... only what you tell it."
    wesley chun :: @wescpy :: Software Architect & Engineer
    Developer Advocate at Google by day; at night: Core Python

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[Steven Prosser]

I have been using GAE since it was in beta. It has been nearly perfect for my company's use model. Recently I have been very concerned about Python2 getting closed down. Just wanted to say that the information provided by Google in this thread has been really great. Most importantly is the "one year notice" which will give us time to migrate to Python3. For now, though, Python2 is as solid as it has ever been. Hope it continues on forever (I keep my "Google AppEngineLauncher" app ready for any code testing we need -- yeah its that old...). Again, my thanks to Google for being really transparent. -Steve

[Sajal Gupta]

Thank you. This is helpful.

Regards