Python 2.3b2

We are pleased to announce the release of Python 2.3b2 on June 29, 2003. This is a beta release. We request widespread testing of this release but don't recommend using it for production situations. Beta releases contain bugs. New APIs are expected to be stable, and may be changed only if serious deficiencies are found. No new APIs or modules will be added.

If you have an important Python application, we strongly recommend that you try it out with a beta release and report any incompatibilities or other problems you may encounter, so that they can be fixed before the final release. To report problems, use the SourceForge bug tracker. See also the list of known bugs.

The roadmap for the Python 2.3 release is PEP 283. We're shooting for the first release candidate by late July 2003 and a final release by early August 2003.

(The latest stable release is Python 2.2.3.)

Download the release

Windows users should download the Windows installer, Python-2.3b2.exe, run it and follow the friendly instructions on the screen to complete the installation. Windows users may also be interested in Mark Hammond's win32all, a collection of Windows-specific extensions including COM support and Pythonwin, an IDE built using Windows components.

All others should download Python-2.3b2.tgz, the source tarball, and do the usual "gunzip; tar; ./configure; make" dance.

There is no Mac release yet. (However, the source release builds fine on Mac OS X, and supports many fine Mac OS X extras!)

Macintosh users can find binaries and source on Jack Jansen's MacPython page. Mac OS X users who have a C compiler (which comes with the OS X Developer Tools) can also build from the source tarball below.

IDLEFORK users should take note: Idlefork has been re-merged back into the main Python distribution and takes the place of the old IDLE release.

What's New?

• See the highlights of this release.
• Andrew Kuchling's What's New in Python 2.3 describes the most visible changes since Python 2.2 in more detail.
• A detailed list of the changes is in the release notes, or the Misc/NEWS file in the source distribution.
• For the full list of changes, you can poke around in CVS.

Documentation

The documentation has been updated too:

• Browse HTML on-line
• Download using HTTP or FTP

The interim documentation for new-style classes, last seen for Python 2.2.2, is still relevant for Python 2.3. In addition, The Python 2.3 Method Resolution Order is a nice paper by Michele Simionato that explains the C3 MRO algorithm (new in Python 2.3) clearly. (Also available as reStructured Text. Copied with permission.)

Files, MD5 checksums and sizes

652705cf6375272fccb6add9def7d0a1 Python-2.3b2.exe (9381903 bytes, win)
da16309c14caf585353686d5462fe9d7 Python-2.3b2.tgz (8421285 bytes, src)