Python 2.5 First Beta Released

CGIDir
Monday, June 26, 2006; 05:56 AM

The Python Software Foundation announced the first beta of the newest major release of the Python programming language. The "What's New" section lists the changes made since the last version at http://docs.python.org/dev/whatsnew/whatsnew25.html .

The beta release is not suitable for production use. It is being released to solicit feedback and discover bugs, as well as allowing users to determine how changes in 2.5 might impact them.

The development team noted that changes to improve Python's support of 64 bit systems mean that some C extension modules may  break. 

Since the second alpha, a host of bug fixes and other changes have been made. In addition, the results of the Iceland NeedForSpeed programming event were merged in, resulting in significant speedups.

Python 2.5 is now in feature freeze mode. Unless absolutely necessary, no functionality changes will be made between now and the final release of Python 2.5. 

The release schedule plans for one more beta release, then release candidates, leading to a 2.5 final release early August.