[Biopython-dev] Python 2.3 support

[Peter]

Hi all,

As we've been warning for the last couple of releases, Biopython 1.50
should be the last release to officially support Python 2.3.  No one
has complained yet, but they may not have noticed. I suspect there may
be people out there using a local Biopython installation on an old
Linux/Unix computer where the system Python is rather old. For
Biopython 1.50 I added a warning to setup.py when run on Python 2.3 so
that may get more attention.

Given the small possibility that we may get need to do a fix release
with Python 2.3 support, I propose that we don't actively remove any
Python 2.3 support in CVS yet (maybe not until after Biopython 1.51?).
 Any new modules that require Python 2.4+ to run would be OK, but I
would like to avoid breaking existing core functionality on Python 2.3
in the short term.

I know I'm dragging my feed on this, but being a bit cautious here
shouldn't hurt.  Plus I have an ulterior motive: I'm one of the few
Biopython users still actually using Python 2.3!  To be precise, this
now only on one machine at work - but this is the cluster head node.
However, an upgrade is planned in the next month or so, and once that
is done, maybe I'll relent and we can remove Python 2.3 support in CVS
;)

Peter