Python 3.0 is an ex-release! Long live Python 3.1!

There will be no Python 3.0.2 release or further 3.0.x maintenance/security releases. All users of Python 3.0 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Python 3.1.

Second-Quarter Community Service Awards

The Foundation tries to recognize those whose assistance has been significant in its growth and development as well as its day-to-day operations. This quarter's Community Service Award winners are two particularly noteworthy examples.

Stephan Deibel Stephan was last year's outgoing chairman after four years in harness. This year Stephan has stepped down as a director, after helping to ensure that the Foundation's bylaws were reorganized. Stephan developed pythonology.com to promote Python, and his work as founder of Wingware and a developer of the Wing IDE has also had a significant impact.

Sean Reifschneider Sean has master-minded the PyCOn networking every time it's worked, and without the support of this always helpful and reliably competent tummy.com director our conferences simply would not have been the same.

Our thanks and congratulations go to both these recipients.

"conferences" new mailing list created

The conferences@python.org mailing list is for open discussion of issues related to Python conferences. All conferences are welcome: established and planned, worldwide. The archive is open to all.

Subscribe here.

Please spread the word to conference mailing lists and to anyone who would be interested.

PSF Board & Members' meeting minutes available

The minutes of all 2009 meetings through April were approved at the May Board meeting, and are available here:

• 12 January 2009 Board meeting
• 9 February 2009 Board meeting
• 12 March 2009 Board meeting
• 27 March 2009 Members' meeting at PyCon
• 27 March 2009 Board meeting at PyCon
• 13 April 2009 Board meeting

Previous minutes: Board meetings, members' meetings

PSF Community Awards - March 2009

Sunday, March 29th, at Pycon 2009 in Chicago: On behalf of the PSF Board of Directors, Python BDFL and PSF President Guido van Rossum announced two Python Software Foundation Community Awards.

PSF Community Awards are given semi-regularly, several times each year, to people who have made significant contributions to the broader Python community, helping the Foundation to fulfill its mission. Each prize includes a free PyCon registration and $500 towards travel and hotel.

This time we recognized two people who have helped to make PyCon possible:

Mary Rush has given selflessly for four years now, staffing the registration desk and providing a friendly face for PyCon.

Carl Karsten has been a great asset to PyCon for the last three years. His energy and enthusiasm have helped PyCon reach new highs.

Congratulations and many thanks to Mary and Carl!

Thanks to 2008 Donors

From figures supplied by the Treasurer it appears that the PSF received donations totalling $23,807.65 in 2008. The smallest donation was one cent, and the largest was $2,052. We are grateful for them all. As a non-profit it's important for the Foundation to maintain what's known as the public support ratio, to retain our non-profit status.

I realize that times are hard right now, but if you are feeling at all expansive we really would be grateful to anyone who can make a donation, no matter what the size.

Thanks again to all contributors for your support, and thanks also to those who contributed in other ways by attending conferences, serving on committees and donating their valuable time to help organize PSF activities.

Help Migrating to Python 3.0

To assist those wanting to migrate their code to Python 3.0 the developers have just announced the creation of the Python-porting mailing list. Signing up for the list is a good way to tap in to the advice of the core developers, so it's probably a good list even if you only want to lurk to begin with.

Remember that it may take a while for all your project's dependencies to migrate to the new environment, but it's available now, so fill your boots!

Organizational Changes

Further to our recent cogitations on better meeting the PSF's goals the Board has taken a number of decisions which I'd like to let you know about.

• I am in the process of appointing a part-time administrator to help us with the more mundane tasks. I anticipate this will initially require between 10 and 20 hours per week, and be performed on a contract basis.
• Kurt Kaiser, our Treasurer, will commit to spending a quarter of his time on PSF-related duties. His remuneration will increase to give him a reasonable hourly rate for the job.
• David Goodger has accepted a six-month contract as paid chairman of PyCon. Besides organizing next year's conference he will focus on ensuring that the chairman's role is properly documented, allowing us to respond appropriately to the development needs of the conference.

We are currently in a transitional phase: Kurt has assumed his enlarged role with immediate effect; I anticipate that David and the new administrator will take up their posts early in December. Hopefully this will mean we are able to more adequately take care of business.

The Board will be assessing the impact of these changes over time, and review the overall position after PyCon. In the meantime we will welcome any observations from you about how the changes affect the way the Foundation serves you.

Follow-up: The administrator position is now filled

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First pyArkansas an Unqualified Success

We are grateful to Greg Lindstrom for the following feedback on a recent successful regional event. Congratulations are due to the organizers.

We held our 1-day "pyArkansas" conference on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas with 57 people attending. There was a surprising mix of beginners (which we expected) and experienced (which pleasantly surprised us). The first half of the day was dedicated to classes; Python 101 (Dr. Bernard Chen of UCA), Intermediate Python (Jeff Rush) and Python for System Administrators (Noah Gift). A way cool perk was that everyone attending the sys admin class received a copy of Noah's new book! The afternoon was dedicated to talks and open space. All participants received a swag bag with a copy of Python Magazine, a GIS magazine, python stickers and other stuff.

We had fantastic support from various employers and the Conway Chamber of Commerce. I am pleased to thank the PSF for your offer of $300 reimbursement and very respectfully decline it; we were able to cover our expenses, provide lodging for Jeff and Noah, and even give them a few dollars for their efforts. We have a grant request in to the Conway Advertising and Promotion Commission for $3,000 for next year. If we get that, the Chamber of Commerce will pony up another $1,500, leaving us with about $1,000 more to raise. Bringing in speakers was very well -- extremely well -- received and we want to expand on it next year, with a goal to bring in 4 speakers/teachers. Modeling the conference as a hybrid between a "mini-PyCon" and an "unconference" makes sense as many of our participants were brand new to Python while others wanted open space.

We got some very nice ink from Dr. John Tabor. It's that kind of response that prompted the Chamber of Commerce to have us submit a grant request to the A&P.

I have a more detailed report written up if anyone would like to see it (or if there is somewhere I can post it).

Thanks for your encouragement and support. Special thanks to Noah and Jeff for making the trip to Arkansas.

Please note that, while we are pleased that this event managed to run without our sponsorship, the PSF Board is always prepared to consider funding requests for events that demonstrably benefit the Python community.

PSF Board meeting minutes available (May, June, & July)

Minutes of Regular Meetings of the Board of Directors of the Python Software Foundation:

• May 12, 2008
• June 16, 2008
• July 14, 2008