Development
Python's development is conducted largely through the Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) process. PEPs are standardized design documents providing general information related to Python, including proposals, descriptions, design rationales, and explanations for language features. Outstanding PEPs are reviewed and commented upon by Van Rossum, the Python project's Benevolent Dictator for Life (leader / language architect). CPython's developers also communicate over a mailing list, python-dev, which is the primary forum for discussion about the language's development; specific issues are discussed in the Roundup bug tracker maintained at python.org. Development takes place at the self-hosted hg.python.org.
CPython's public releases come in three types, distinguished by which part of the version number is incremented:
- backwards-incompatible versions, where code is expected to break and must be manually ported. The first part of the version number is incremented. These releases happen infrequently—for example, version 3.0 was released 8 years after 2.0.
- major or "feature" releases, which are largely compatible but introduce new features. The second part of the version number is incremented. These releases are scheduled to occur roughly every 18 months, and each major version is supported by bugfixes for several years after its release.
- bugfix releases, which introduce no new features but fix bugs. The third and final part of the version number is incremented. These releases are made whenever a sufficient number of bugs have been fixed upstream since the last release, or roughly every 3 months. Security vulnerabilities are also patched in bugfix releases.
A number of alpha, beta, and release-candidates are also released as previews and for testing before the final release is made. Although there is a rough schedule for each release, this is often pushed back if the code is not ready. The development team monitor the state of the code by running the large unit test suite during development, and using the BuildBot continuous integration system.
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