June/July 2022 Steering Council update

[encukou (Petr Viktorin)]

June & July updates from the Steering council are published on the SC repo, and repeated below:

2022-06-06

• The SC and the Developer-in-Residence discussed ongoing PR reviews,
  release blockers for 3.11,
  documenting the whole Python release process,
  and the mandate to require 2FA.
• The SC discussed ongoing issues with the Python 3.11 betas, release blockers,
  unexpected slowdowns in tracing mode and with enums.
• The SC discussed moving some parts of python-dev to discourse and
  what challenges this entails.

2022-06-13

• 4 SC members present
• The SC discussed who should have admin access to the python GitHub org
  and the various python/ repos.
• The SC acknowledged the release blockers such as the tracing performance.
• The SC discussed the composition of the Python Security Response Team (PSRT).
• The SC discussed that organizations want to give the PSF money for Security work.
• The SC discussed Python Core Dev Sprint hosting, October timeframe.
• The SC discussed using Github Projects for steering council work visibility.
• The SC scheduled a talk with the new manager of Microsoft’s Faster CPython team.
• The SC discussed more on what GitHub python/ org should contain.
  PSF license CLA requirement is per org and projects that aren’t
  strictly CPython don’t feel right in there.
• The SC discussed Discourse long term needs
  for sustainability.
• The SC discussed the status of typing annotation PEPs
  (649 (Deferred Evaluation Of Annotations Using Descriptors)
  and 563 (Postponed Evaluation of Annotations))
  and who to get input from.

2022-06-20

• The SC and the Developer-in-Residence again discussed ongoing PR reviews,
  release blockers for 3.11, documenting the whole Python release process,
  as well as the new CLA process on GitHub.
• The SC and the DiR had a long discussion about
  PEP 563 (Postponed Evaluation of Annotations)
  and PEP 649 (Deferred Evaluation Of Annotations Using Descriptors),
  and possible long-term solutions.
• The SC again discussed ongoing issues with the Python 3.11 betas,
  release blockers, unexpected slowdowns in tracing mode and with enums.

2022-06-27

• The SC met with Michael Droetboom, manager of Microsoft’s Faster CPython team,
  and talked about the challenges of having a team of full-timers working
  together with volunteers, large features that need long-term planning,
  and handling a large amount of changes with unforeseen consequences.
• The SC discussed moving from python-dev to discuss.python.org.
• The SC discussed a request for extra privileges for the python GitHub
  organization, and decided that since the organization is currently not limited
  to CPython-related repos, it’s best to keep the list of owners minimal.
• The SC discussed guidelines for repositories in the python GitHub organization.

2022-07-04

• The SC met with the Dev in Residence (Łukasz) and discussed:
  • How the Code of Conduct applies for private communication
  • Merging iOS patches from Beeware
  • Not being able to keep up with the Faster CPython team
  • Possibility of postponing the 3.11.0 release to December
  • Possibility of adjusting the 3.12 schedule to allow more testing
• Discussion on these topics continued after Łukasz left.

2022-07-11

• The SC briefly discussed PyPI’s new requirements for critical packages
• The SC discussed potentially hiring a second Developer in Residence and/or
  a Python Security resident role
• The SC discussed potential delay of 3.11.0, release blockers,
  and Release Manager pain points.
• The SC discussed Adding a new “validation” step to our issue handling workflow
  and decided on a ‘triaged’ label to mark analyzed issues.

2022-07-18

• The SC met with Deb Nicholson (PSF Executive Director) and discussed:
  • organization of this year’s core dev sprint (and the sprints in general)
  • hiring another Developer in Residence
• Smaller topics:
  • Typing Summit presentation
  • Feedback on the planned move to Discourse
  • Noting that Code of Conduct applies for private communication
• The SC discussed PEPs/PEP updates about managing the standard library,
  and updating/obsoleting PEPs in general.
• The SC approved WebAssembly to Tier 3 support, and discussed what it should
  take to move it to Tier 2.
• The SC discussed the new policy for the Python GitHub organization,
  and decided to get the General Counsel (Van Lindberg) to clarify questions
  about the CLA.
• The SC discussed core dev mentoring resources & coordinators.

2022-07-25

• 4 SC members present
• The Steering Council discussed the latest security reports in PSRT (Python
  Security Response Team) regarding some APIs and how to approach them.
• The Steering Council discussed how to approach security issues and how
  different threat levels require different approaches.
• The Steering Council discussed the importance (or lack thereof) of some CVEs
  that are reported against CPython.

[kj0 (Ken Jin)]

Thank you for posting these. I really like that the discussions are so transparent and that the updates are available for all of us to read them!