Steering Council updates will be posted irregularly and as needed. We provide these updates to foster open and transparent communication about Steering Council activity. We strive to post at least once every month.
Sorry we've been silent for a while! With PyCon in Cleveland, the Language Summit, Sprints, PEP activity, and a Python 3.8 beta release, it's been a busy and productive May and June. Thank you all for your contributions. Below are some of the outcomes of our weekly Steering Council conversations.
This section organizes Steering Council (SC) activity and projects using the mandates listed in PEP 13.
Maintain the quality and stability of the Python language and CPython interpreter
- Inspired by Russell Keith-Magee's PyCon keynote about Black Swan events, the Steering Council is looking at what may impact Python for the next decade. We have been discussing this within the Steering Council and writing up some thoughts on major challenges facing Python. We'll continue to edit and polish this vision document and share it when we are ready for wider comment.
Make contributing as accessible, inclusive, and sustainable as possible
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Communications channels: We are very pleased with the move of python-dev, etc. to Mailman 3. We now have a modern UI and easy search across mailing lists.
Just a reminder to recap where announcements and conversations are taking place:
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To reach core committers specifically, we will use python-committers@python.org.
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To reach the entire Python developer community, we will use python-dev@python.org.
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For specific requests to the SC (e.g., PEP reviews), please use our public GitHub tracker at https://github.com/python/steering-council/issues.
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To reach just the SC, you can email us at steering-council@python.org.
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We will also occasionally use Discourse, at https://discuss.python.org (for example, Discourse is useful for polls and votes).
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Establish appropriate decision-making processes for PEPs
- To request a PEP review, please file an issue on the SC issue tracker.
PEP highlights include:
- PEP 570, "Python Positional-Only Parameters", by Larry Hastings, Pablo Galindo and others. Appointed Guido van Rossum as BD. "Completed."
- PEP 574, "Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data", Antoine Pitrou. Appointed Nick Coghlan as BD. "Marked Final."
- PEPs 576, 579, 580, 590 (competing PEPs on C function call optimizations by Mark Shannon and Jeroen Demeyer; note that PEP 576 is withdrawn in favor of PEP 590). Appointed Petr Viktorin as BD. "Accepted 590."
- PEP 578, "Python Runtime Audit Hooks", Steve Dower. Appointed Christian Heimes as BD. "Landed, about to be marked Final."
Formalize and maintain the relationship between the core team and the PSF
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We began discussions about fundraising ideas for CPython projects and administrative support.
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A donation page was created by the PSF and was linked from the CPython repo. Any funds that are donated will be used for Core Developers to attend the core development sprints (to start; future possibilities are dependent on the amount of funds gathered).
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At the Steering Council's recommendation, the PSF also is looking at hiring a Project Manager to manage communication and some logistics for the 2020 Python 2.7 End of Life.
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The PSF Code of Conduct Workgroup is working on a revision of the CoC and its approval by the PSF board. Brett and Carol serve on the Workgroup.
Seek consensus among contributors and the core team before acting in a formal capacity,
Act as a "court of final appeal" for decisions where all other methods have failed.
- The weekly SC meeting cadence (Tuesdays 3-4pm US West Coast time) has been working out well.
This reference section summarizes the Steering Council's mandate and powers.
The steering council shall work to:
- Maintain the quality and stability of the Python language and CPython interpreter,
- Make contributing as accessible, inclusive, and sustainable as possible,
- Formalize and maintain the relationship between the core team and the PSF,
- Establish appropriate decision-making processes for PEPs,
- Seek consensus among contributors and the core team before acting in a formal capacity,
- Act as a "court of final appeal" for decisions where all other methods have failed.
The council has broad authority to make decisions about the project.
For example, they can:
- Accept or reject PEPs
- Enforce or update the project's code of conduct
- Work with the PSF to manage any project assets
- Delegate parts of their authority to other subcommittees or processes