# What to do with re.LOCALE? **URL:** \ **Category:** Core Development\ **Created:** [August 30, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/what-to-do-with-re-locale/32600 "2023-08-30T11:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 12
**Author:** ![hugovk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/hugovk/32/14505_2.png) [@hugovk](https://discuss.python.org/u/hugovk)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/what-to-do-with-re-locale/32600/12 "2026-09-21T12:47:52Z")
The question isn’t about dropping the idea, or whether to _extend_ the deprecation period, but whether to _reduce_ it to the minimum. [PEP 387](https://peps.python.org/pep-0387/#making-incompatible-changes) was updated last year to recommend a five-year deprecation period. The [discussion](https://discuss.python.org/t/updating-pep-387-to-prefer-5-year-deprecations-instead-of-2-years/65166) had lots of support (and SC approval) for five years as the recommendation. So the default is five years, and the minimum two years is the exception. If you think the maintenance cost of keeping the old code for longer is too high, and the upgrade cost to the community is low enough, then less than five is okay. At least use in the top PyPI packages is low, and even lower in compiled regexes. --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.python.org/t/what-to-do-with-re-locale/32600)._