Real Python: Python News: What's New From June 2022

June 2022 brought a flurry of exciting news for the Python community! The PSF received funding for a new role focused on security, and held elections for four seats on the board of directors. Results from two important developer surveys were published, and new versions of both Python and some popular packages saw the light of day.

PEP 691 got accepted, extending the Simple API for Python packaging indexes. With the Python 3.12 change page live, you can now start hitting refresh to be the first to know about upcoming features and deprecations in next year’s major Python release.

With summer in full swing, there have also been more in-person meetups in the Python community, and others are still to come.

Let’s dive into the biggest Python news from the past month!

The Python Software Foundation Has News

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is the organization behind Python. It aims to “promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers” (Source).

If you haven’t heard of the PSF before, make sure to check out the PSF blog, which you’ll see linked a few times in this news article.

PSF Elects New Board Directors

Elections to fill four seats on the PSF board of directors took place during the second half of June. A term for a seat on the PSF board of directors lasts for three years, and directors are eligible for reelection. To vote in this election, you had to be a registered PSF member with voting rights.

This year, there were a lot of nominees, and the seats were filled with the four nominees who received the most votes:

1. Kushal Das
2. Jannis Leidel
3. Dawn Wages
4. Simon Willison

If you’re curious what it means to serve on the PSF board and what a director’s duties are, then you can watch a video in which three board members describe Life as a Python Software Foundation Director.

Congratulations to the new and returning board directors, and big thanks to all the other nominees for their continued engagement in the Python community.

PSF Releases 2021 Annual Report

This month, the PSF also released its 2021 annual report. Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the Python Software Foundation, and the thirtieth anniversary for Python itself:

The report highlights how four team members joined the PSF in new roles during 2021. Python packaging and CPython itself received strong support through the dedicated roles of Packaging Project Manager and Developer in Residence. Funding for event grants started up again, with a focus on online events. The PSF also organized PyCon US 2021 as a fully online event.

If you’re curious to learn more, then you can read the full report online.

OpenSSF Funds A Security Role for the Python Ecosystem

Sadly not for the first time, there was another set of malicious packages identified on PyPI. Because Python is used by such a large community worldwide, such attacks can have dangerous and wide-reaching consequences. In the news article linked above, you’ll see that these packages aimed to expose programmers’ secrets.

Therefore, it’s great news that the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) has decided to fund a new role in the PSF.

The person filling the role will have a chance to positively impact the current state of security in the wider Python ecosytem as they “provide security expertise for Python, the Python Package Index (PyPI), and the rest of the Python ecosystem” (Source).

The grant money will also be used to complete a security audit on critical open source infrastructure in the Python ecosystem, such as PyPI and the CPython source code itself. Having a dedicated role and financing will hopefully go a long way in boosting security for Python’s large global community.

Survey Results Are In!