Ubuntu Plans For Python 3 By Default For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Another one of the interesting discussions this week at the Ubuntu Online Summit was with regards to plans for merging off of Python 2 and providing Python 3 by default over the next year, in time for the long-term support release of Ubuntu 16.04.

Other distributions have been working on weening off of Python 2 in favor of Py3, with Fedora 22 notably looking to ship only Python 3 on the install media, which we covered a while back on Phoronix along with other Py3 adoption milestones.

Within the Ubuntu world, by Ubuntu 16.04 LTS next April they want Python 3 by default and potentially to only have Python 3.5. In upstream Debian for their 9.0 Stretch release they are also hoping for no Python2 by default, albeit the Stretch release is much further out.

Given that there's still several months of development to go for Ubuntu 15.10, developers are currently looking to whether they'll be able to package Python 3.5 for this release and if their Py3 default adoption plans are too early. The Python 3.5 release schedule currently pegs the final release at 13 September.

More details on the Python 3 plans for Ubuntu over the next two cycles can be found via this GoogleDocs presentation and the UOS session recording that's been embedded below.