[Zope-dev] Zope and Python compatibility for 2.7: decision

[Brian Lloyd]

Hi all -

There has been some discussion lately regarding whether or not 
the next Zope feature release (2.7) should require Python 2.2.2 
or not. For background, this is something that was already on the 
project plan, with the idea being that it would be easier to 
backport interesting things from Zope 3 if Zope 2.7 were based on 
Python 2.2.

I'd like to make the edict that the plan stands, and 2.7 will be 
based on Python 2.2.2. The decision is based on several things:

  - Even though some of the specific backporting efforts that got 
    this on the plan in the first place have stalled, it would still be 
    nice for backporting to be *possible* to a near-term Zope 2.x release

  - Release cycles never go as quickly as you want them to, and 
    historically a couple of second-dot releases a year is a lot :)

    Putting off Python 2.2 support until 2.8 could mean putting it 
    off for longer than I think we'd want, especially considering 
    the rapid progress Z3 is making. As Z3 continues to mature, I 
    expect there will be more desire to backport certain things.
    

Note that after the work has been done to assess Python 2.2.2 with Zope, 
it should be possible to "bless" Python 2.2.2 as a supported platform 
for a Zope 2.6.x release as well. This means that:

  - Zope 2.7 would "require" Python 2.2.2 (code can contain 2.2-isms), 
    and binary distributions would include it.

  - Zope 2.6.x would support both 2.1.2 and 2.2.2 (but the code would
    contain no 2.2-isms).


Brian Lloyd        brian@zope.com
V.P. Engineering   540.361.1716              
Zope Corporation   http://www.zope.com