[ome-users] Removal of support for Python 2.4 and 2.5

[Roger Leigh]

Dear all,

The OME project has evaluated the level of Python 2.4 and 2.5 usage
across the OMERO 4.4 platform.  Python 2.4 usage is currently restricted
to OMERO.web and OMERO.diagnostics running on RHEL5/CentOS5 systems.
Python 2.5 usage is limited to a very small number of Windows systems.
The vast majority of installations are currently using Python 2.6 or
2.7, split roughly equally (all platforms combined) with 2.7 usage
displacing 2.6 over time from about 25% in July 2012 to around 50% today.

In the absence of any major blocker, we plan to remove support for
Python 2.4 and 2.5 in the OMERO 5.0 release.  At this point users and
developers will require Python 2.6 or 2.7 for these and future releases.
  Python 2.4 and 2.5 will continue to be supported for future 4.4 releases.

Requiring 2.6 as the minimum Python version will bring performance
improvements and allow use of new language features which will improve
the quality and robustness of our code¹.  The better library support
will also permit faster implementation of user requests and new
features, for example for analysis scripts, and will also provide some
Python 3 features to allow development of support for Python 3.

We would be interested in hearing feedback if you are in a situation
where it is not possible to upgrade to a more recent version of Python,
and this change will cause problems.  In particular, it would be useful
to have the details of the system you are using.

Users of RHEL5/CentOS5 should consider upgrading to RHEL6/CentOS6 when
the time comes to upgrade to OMERO 5.x.  Windows users can install newer
2.6/2.7 Python packages from http://www.python.org/download/.


Regards,
Roger Leigh


1.  http://docs.python.org/2/whatsnew/2.6.html

--
Dr Roger Leigh -- Open Microscopy Environment
Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression,
College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dow Street,
Dundee DD1 5EH Scotland UK   Tel: (01382) 386364

The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096