Python 2 support

Note

This document is relevant for packages that are either direct dependencies of Zope version 4 or popular add-ons for Zope version 4 and their dependencies.

Zope 4 will retain full Python 2 (and Python 3.5) compatibility throughout its lifetime. That means all its direct dependencies and (ideally) many popular add-on packages should also continue supporting Python 2 and Python 3.5 until Zope 4 reaches end-of-life status.

When to drop support

We encourage all package maintainers to provide Python 2 support on the master release branch instead of a separate maintenance branch because a separate maintenance branch leads to a lot of extra work:

  • fixes must be ported between branches

  • a contributor may not even be aware of a separate maintenance branch

  • at package release time releases need to be cut from both the master and maintenance branches

  • since existing tools for finding updated dependencies for Zope 4 only detect the very latest releases, which may no longer support Python 2, every single dependency that is pinned to an earlier version must be manually checked to see if there are updates.

With that in mind, dropping Python 2 (or Python 3.5) support for a Zope 4 dependency is allowable under the following circumstances:

  • there are compelling technical reasons - or -

  • the developer who implements the Python 2/Python 3.5 support drop assumes all responsibility for creating a suitable maintenance branch, porting fixes to it, and making releases from the maintenance branch until Zope 4 support ends.

How to drop support

When dropping Python 2 support you should also “upgrade” the code to support more modern practices, like using f-strings.

Prerequisites

  • Installed packages the code examples below expect it to be on $PATH.

    • pyupgrade

    • check-python-versions

    • zest.releaser

  • Repository is under control of meta/config thus it has a .meta.toml file.

Typical steps

The following steps are necessary to remove Python 2 support from a package:

  • Update version number to next major version:

    $ bumpversion --breaking

  • Remove Python 2 support from the Trove classifiers in setup.py and update python_requires:

    $ check-python-versions --drop 2.7,3.5

  • .meta.toml

    • Remove Python 2 specific settings

  • Run meta/config to remove Python 2 support from other configuration files and create a branch:

    $ bin/python config-package.py <PATH-TO-REPOS> --without-legacy-python --no-commit --branch=py3-only

  • setup.py

    • Remove six from the list of dependencies

    • Remove other things pointing to Python 2 or PyPy2.

  • CHANGES.rst

    • Add an entry: Drop support for Python 2 and 3.5.

  • Remove Python 2 support code:

    • Update the code to Python 3 only and update usage of six:

      $ find src -name "*.py" -exec pyupgrade --py3-plus --py36-plus {} \;

    • Replace all remaining six mentions, find it by running:

      $ grep -rn six src

    • Find any remaining code that may support Python 2:

      $ egrep -rn "2.7|3.5|sys.version|PY2|PY3|Py2|Py3|Python 2|Python 3|__unicode__|ImportError" src

    • Run the tests with tox and fix any problems you encounter.

  • Commit the changes to the branch.

  • Create pull request against master with your changes.