Simple End-of-life guide covering all unsupported versions

[ncoghlan]

BPO	25296
Nosy	@warsaw, @birkenfeld, @ncoghlan, @vstinner, @ezio-melotti, @bitdancer, @willingc, @Mariatta, @anlutro

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2016-01-25.01:55:22.013>
created_at = <Date 2015-10-02.05:27:49.173>
labels = ['type-feature', 'docs']
title = 'Simple End-of-life guide covering all unsupported versions'
updated_at = <Date 2018-09-15.11:42:56.018>
user = 'https://github.com/ncoghlan'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2018-09-15.11:42:56.018>
actor = 'Mariatta'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2016-01-25.01:55:22.013>
closer = 'berker.peksag'
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2015-10-02.05:27:49.173>
creator = 'ncoghlan'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 25296
keywords = []
message_count = 17.0
messages = ['252084', '252085', '252086', '252087', '252088', '252089', '252098', '252099', '252102', '252119', '252128', '252131', '252137', '252138', '258894', '325425', '325431']
nosy_count = 12.0
nosy_names = ['barry', 'georg.brandl', 'ncoghlan', 'vstinner', 'ezio.melotti', 'r.david.murray', 'docs@python', 'willingc', 'dshafik', 'glasnt', 'Mariatta', 'Andreas Lutro']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue25296'
versions = []

[ncoghlan]

Katie McLaughlin recently pointed me at PHP's summary page for the End-of-Life dates for their various releases: http://php.net/eol.php

That seems like a useful thing to offer, but we unfortunately don't currently have a great place for this kind of documentation:

• the main docs are version specific, while this kind of page should be version independent
• the update process, access control model and reader experience for python.org is too different from that for the main documentation
• ditto for the wiki
• informational PEPs are closer from an access control perspective, but aren't generated with Sphinx and are still disconnected from the main docs from a reader perspective
• it's off-topic for the developer guide

The "right" answer seems to be setting up a separate "docs" project on hg.python.org to use as the landing page for docs.python.org and for version independent information like this (the redirects already defined as part of PEP-430 should continue to handle unqualified deep links into the Python 2 docs).

I'm not sure how much reconfiguration work such a change would entail, though.

[ncoghlan]

Adding Georg directly to the nosy, as I think this kind of structural question falls under his domain as the docs lead :)

[vstinner]

We now putting the such page on python.org website, as PHP did?

I like the idea of being very explicit on EOL. It's a FAQ on mailing lists. Even for me, being involved in Python developments, it's not always easy to know the status of each branch. For example, I recently asked the question for Python 3.4 :-) The answer was that it will switch to security fixes only after the next 3.4.x release.

The EOL page must explain each stage of maintenance:

• development branch: any kind of change including new features
• bugfix: no new feature, only bugfixes including security fixes
• security fixes only: no more binary release, only source code release, only security fixes and some execeptional bugfixes (sorry, I don't know the exact rule for bugfixes at this stage)
• end of life: dead, no change at all

Python 2.6 reached its EOL or security fixes are still accepted?

I guess that Python <= 2.5, Python 3.0 and Python 3.1 are dead, right?

[ncoghlan]

The branch status is captured in the release PEPs:

2.6 (& 3.0): https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0361/
2.7: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/
3.1: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0375/
3.2: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0392/
3.3: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0398/
3.4: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0429/
3.5: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0478/
3.6: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0494/

The "devcycle" page in the developer guide captures the details of the difference phases: https://docs.python.org/devguide/devcycle.html

So perhaps the expedient near term solution would be to put this info on the devcycle page, and move it later?

[ncoghlan]

Items to capture for each unsupported or security fix only release series:

• date & version of last binary release (maintenance -> security fix only transition)
• date & version of last source-only security release (commercial redistributors are on their own for ongoing support from this point)
• link to the release PEP
• link to the upgrade guide in the next What's New doc once the next version is released

[ezio-melotti]

• the main docs are version specific, while this kind of page
  should be version independent

They could still be included in the main docs with a clear link at the top that says "For the most-recently updated schedule see d.p.o/3/eol.html.". Each version should still be correct -- it will just lack the eol dates for the newest releases.
The Unicode Consortium and the W3C do something similar (see e.g. http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr29/tr29-23.html and http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/WD-html5-20140617/).

Another option is to create a new repo where to put version-independent docs (e.g. the whatsnew, maybe even Misc/NEWS). It shouldn't be difficult to then include these pages in the main docs.

[dshafik]

We (PHP) also have a more visual guide at http://php.net/supported-versions.php which updates dynamically to show the current status.

It shows the current status (EOL, Security only, Active) of releases from PHP 5.3, which is still the default for many LTS distros and still in common use.

[vstinner]

Davey Shafik added the comment:

We (PHP) also have a more visual guide at http://php.net/supported-versions.php which updates dynamically to show the current status.

Great job! It's much easier to see the status with the summary in a
single picture.

[ezio-melotti]

I like that, in fact I used the same format in my talk "The development process of Python": http://wolfprojects.altervista.org/talks/development-process-of-python-2011/ (slides 20/21).

The main problem is where to put all this though.

[bitdancer]

It seems to me a link to this version independent info could logically appear on the docs front page. I think we ought to add the devguide there already, for instance. The 'Meta information' section seems perfectly appropriate...even though all the docs currently in there are maintained in the Docs directory, both 'about' and 'reporting bugs' are currently version-independent information.

[birkenfeld]

It seems to me a link to this version independent info could logically appear on the docs front page.

Yes, that sounds good. I do like the PHP graph of versions too...

[birkenfeld]

It should also be linked from the downloads page.