CPython 3.9, which ships with the current Beta8, has another two years of security fixes before it reaches and-of-life
Considering that CPython3 is only just being introduced into the Rhino ecosystem, I am wondering whether it might be a good idea to upgrade to CPython 3.12 before the final R8 shipping date.
Unlike the big change from P2 to P3, backward compatibility doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. However, I must admit that I don’t fully understand what changes would be required, and how much extra work would be involved. Would it be worth considering, though?
Mabey not 3.12 its a bit new… but as a heavy Python user, who has been dismayed at the rate of updates to embedded python runtimes in multiple programs (not just Rhino)… It makes a lot of sense to perhaps go with 3.11 or 3.10 at the latest.
Unless the team are sure they will ship a Rhino update with the accompanying Python runtime updates, within 18 months, they should be considering updating the Python version before exiting the WIP process.
Using 3.10 would push that deadline for when the developer team need to ship the next Python runtime update out to 30 months…
Using 3.11 would push that even further to 42 months.