[tor-dev] Does anyone need python 2.5 support in stem?

Damian Johnson atagar at torproject.org
Fri Mar 22 16:12:05 UTC 2013


Hi all. Will anyone be sad if I drop python 2.5 support from stem
(just supporting 2.6 and higher, including the 3.x series)? If all
goes well stem will be having its first release this next weekend and
my thinking is this...

* Python itself considers python 2.5 to be obsolete, having dropped
docs for everything below 2.6.

* Every OS I can think of except maybe CentOS has at least 2.6, and
more likely 2.7.

* I have a dozen dirty hacks throughout the codebase just for 2.5
compatability and I'd love to get rid of them. I'm presently working
on a bug that needs the io module which was introduced in 2.6, so I'll
need another gross hack for 2.5 support after this too... :(

* Testing with 2.5 is a pita for me, so in general I don't (only when
a 2.5 bug is reported or prior to a release).

* I've never heard of someone actually using stem with python 2.5, so
maintaining backward compatability this far back is likely a waste of
time.

Cheers! -Damian


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