Monthly highlights from the Red Hat's Python-maint team, May 2020

[Tomas Orsava]

Hi,
we're the Python-maint team from Red Hat, and we'd like to experiment 
with sharing with you what we are working on from month to month. There 
are some things we should not disclose (such as embargoed CVEs), but the 
majority of what we do is out in public. Please let us know if you find 
this useful and whether you'd like us to continue.

So here are the highlights of what we've been working on this May, 2020:

*Fedora:*

  * Python updated to Python 3.9 in rawhide (Fedora 33)

  * ~3000 source packages rebuilt

  * ~100 reamain problematic (fail to build)

  * python3X packages renamed to python3.X in rawhide

  * Python RPM depndency generators:

  * Backported proposed upstream changes, added new test suite to Fedora CI

  * Working on handling of proposed Python extras subpackages

  * pipenv continually being rebased to new versions, currently 2020.5.28

  * Test in copr:https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/g/python/pipenv/

  * Provided feedback and fixes upstream

  * pytest updated to 5 on rawhide (compat package with pytest 4 introduced)

  * pip updated to version 20.1, changes in Python RPM macros were
    needed to workaround problems with new PEP 610

  * https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0610/

  * New RPM macros for easier packaging: %py_provides, %pytest and
    %python3_shebang_fix

  * %py_provides:https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/python-rpm-macros/pull-request/52

  *
%python3_shebang_fixhttps://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/python-rpm-macros/pull-request/58

  * %pytesthttps://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/python-rpm-macros/pull-request/55

  * Improved %pypi_source macro

  * Removes tildes (`~`) from %version so that it works with
    alpha/beta/dev releases out of the box

  * https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/python-rpm-macros/pull-request/57

  * Python 3.8.3 updated across Fedora releases

  * pypy and pypy 3 updated to versions 7.3.1

  * provided feedback upstream for new Cython alpha release


*CPython:*

  * CPython 3.9b1 was released:
    seehttps://docs.python.org/dev/whatsnew/3.9.html

  * Fixing a CPython type reference count issue found by PySide

  * Python 3.9 is now FIPS compatible upstream.

  * Proof-of-concept of subinterpreters running in parellel with one GIL
    per interpreter: "Subinterpreters 4x faster than sequential
    execution or threads on CPU-bound
   
workload"https://mail.python.org/archives/list/[e-mail]...

  * Progress on subinterpreter isolation work: most free lists are now
    per-interpreter.https://bugs.python.org/issue40521

  * Progress on hiding implementation details from the C API: Py_TYPE(),
    Py_REFCNT() and Py_SIZE() can no longer be used as l-value. Use
    Py_SET_TYPE(), Py_SET_REFCNT() and Py_SET_SIZE()
   
instead.https://mail.python.org/archives/list/[e-mail]/thread/...

  * New --hardlink-dupes option in compileall: "If two .pyc files with
    different optimization level have the same content, use hard links
    to consolidate duplicate
   
files."https://docs.python.org/dev/library/compileall.html#cmdoption...

  * Helped to get features merged before the 3.9 feature freeze:
    removeprefix/removesuffix (PEP 616), new zoneinfo module (PEP 615).
    Fixed buildbot failures and a few reference leaks.

  * Python Steering Council Community Address with our team member
    Victor Stinner:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX8fGuh4T_o

*
*
*Red Hat Enterprise Linux:*

  * Overhauling the FIPS patch for python3 in RHEL 7

  * Created an Insights rule candidate that verifies Python alternatives

  * Backporting fix for Python's CVE-2019-16056 to older RHEL 7 versions

  * For RHEL9 preparations -- see the Fedora section


*Red Hat Software Collections:*

  * Python 3.8 from RHSCL 3.5 added for s2i-python-container upstream


*Misc:*

  * Releasing a GitHub action to run Tox on
    Fedora:https://github.com/marketplace/actions/python-tox-on-fedora


All the best,
Python-maint