Python

Fedora 29 intoduces Python 3.7, which adds numerous new features and optimizations compared to version 3.6, which was the default Python 3 stack in Fedora 28. Notable changes include:

See What’s new in Python 3.7 and Features for 3.7 for more information. If you have your own Python apps, see Porting to Python 3.7 for information about compatibility-breaking changes and how to fix your applications.

The unversioned python command from /usr/bin/python has been moved into a separate python-unversioned-command package. You will get it by default when you install the python2 package, but you are able to remove it.

Use the python3 command if you need Python 3, and the python2 command if you need Python 2. The python command continues to mean Python 2, but it is not guaranteed to be present.

See the Change page for detailed information and justification for this change.

The virtualenv command now comes from the python3-virtualenv package, as opposed to earlier releases where the command was in the python2-virtualenv. This effectively switches the command to Python 3; if you run virtualenv without any additional options, it will create Python 3 environments. Use virtualenv -p python2.7 to get the previously default behavior.

The ansible package in Fedora is switching to use Python 3 by default, instead of Python 2. See Automation for details.

The current way of automatic Python byte-compiling of files outside Python-specific directories is too magical and error-prone. It is built on heuristics that are increasingly wrong. This change provides a way to opt out of it, and adjusts the guidelines to prefer explicit bytecompilation of such files. Later, the old behavior will either become opt-in only, or cease to exist.

Note that bytecompilation in Python-specific directories (e.g. /usr/lib/python3.6/) is not affected.

See the Fedora Wiki change page for detailed documentation.

Multiple package groups have been updated to use python3 by default instead of python2. See Distribution-wide Changes for more information.