Project names blocked on PyPI to avoid name collision for downstream free-threaded Python distributions

Packaging Announcements
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The project names freethreading and free-threading have been blocked on PyPI to make way for redistributions of the Python runtime compiled with in the “Free-Threaded” mode (ie with --disable-gil set).

This was done due to a request from Fedora, but I am aware that many other distributions of Python especially for Linux use a package naming scheme of python-X or python3-X where X is the name of a package on PyPI. This naming scheme creates a tough situation for redistributors that are looking to distribute Python compiled with free-threading enabled, which typically use a package name of python or python3 and thus would want to use python-freethreaded or python3-freethreaded for Python with free-threading enabled.

There is no obligation for redistributions to compile Python free-threading at all or under the name that’s been blocked, distributions are free to choose the name or naming scheme that works for them. This announcement is only to make others aware that such action has been taken and can be relied on as an option.

If you are aware of other distributions looking to package free-threaded Python, please send them this announcement in order to spread the word. If a distribution’s naming scheme isn’t compatible with this block and further blocks are required, please open an issue on the PyPI support.

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You should also block the versions with python[3]- prefixes, as they will be typosquatted very quickly (if they haven’t been already).

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Were these names also reserved, in addition to freethreading and free-threading?

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@steve.dower @CAM-Gerlach We can request those names also be blocked, are there any others we should block? I can submit one request for them all.

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I don’t recall any other common patterns that we’ve dealt with in the past, just the one with the leading “python-”

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I’ve created a separate request for these names: PEP 541 Block Request: python-freethreading, python3-freethreading · Issue #3424 · pypi/support · GitHub

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Could “nogil” be blocked too?

I can imagine a blog post reading “thanks to the nogil project, blabla” and someone misreading it and trying to pip install nogil.

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