[Biopython-dev] buildbot issue on Python 3.1 - stdout?

[Peter Cock]

On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 3:32 AM, Wibowo Arindrarto
<w.arindrarto at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Confirmed, using test_Emboss.py and Python 3.1.5 on
> > this machine (running as the buildslave user using the
> > same Python 3.1.5 installation), using the current tip
> > 5092e0e9f2326da582158fd22090f31547679160 and
> > the two commits mentioned above, that is
> > e90db11f4a1d983bc2bfe12bec30edbdbb200634 and
> > 3ea4ea58ed80d6e517699bcab8810398f9ce5957 -
> > all three builds show the same failure.
> >
> > i.e. The failure is not due to a change in Biopython
> > between those commits, but is in some way caused
> > by a change to the buildslave environment. My first
> > suggestion that this is due to Python 3.1.3 -> 3.1.5
> > remains my prime suspect.
> >
> > I could try downgrading Python 3.1 on this machine
> > to confirm that I suppose... or updating Python 3.1 on
> > another machine?
> >
> > The other recent Python 3.1 buildbot runs were both
> > using Python 3.1.2 (Windows XP 32bit and Linux 32 bit).
> >
> > Can anyone else reproduce this, or have an idea what
> > the fix might be?
>
> It's reproducible in my machine: Arch Linux 64 bit running
> Python3.1.5. Haven't figured out a fix yet, but trying to see if I
> can.

Great. We haven't really proved this is down to a change in
either Python 3.1.4 or 3.1.5 but it does look likely.

>
> By the way, I was wondering, what's our deprecation policy for
> Python3.x? I saw that 3.1.5 was released in 2009, and there doesn't
> seem to be any major updates coming soon. How long should we keep
> supporting Python <3.2?

As long as it doesn't cost us much effort? If we can't solve this
issue easily that might be enough to drop Python 3.1?

My impression is that Python 3.0 is dead, and the only sizeable
group stuck with Python 3.1 will those on Ubuntu lucid (LTS is
supported through 2013 on desktops and 2015 on servers),
but as with life under Python 2.x it is fairly straightforward
to have a local/additional Python without disturbing the system
installation.

On a related note, TravisCI currently still supports Python 3.1
unofficially (we're not using this with Biopython but I've tried
it with other projects), but this will be dropped soon - once
they have Python 3.3 working.

Since we don't yet officially support Python 3 (but we probably
should soon) we have the flexibility to recommend
either Python 3.2 or 3.3 as a baseline.

Peter