kamil
At least in the NetBSD case (pkgsrc), we intend to keep Python 2.7 in the foreseeable future, but the support in libraries and applications will be successively reduced (as we are down to follow upstream), possibly to the point that almost nothing left supports Python 2.7.
That's really good! Huge props to NetBSD for this.
For more than a year (well before the original 2020 deadline, which used to be the 2015 deadline) I've promoted PyPy as a supported alternative to Python2. This was in the GNU/Linux world and I wasn't using BSD (though for the record, I was also promoting BSD as an alternative to a lot problems going on there. I was talking to rms about whether a "fully-free" (per his standards) BSD existed, and neither of us knew of one (per his standards). This prompted me to look up LibertyBSD (OpenBSD-based).
Fast forward a year or two, and FSF-approved Hyperbola is creating the first FSF-approved BSD-- based on LibertyBSD.
What they don't tell you is that OpenBSD is already that free, except for firmware. And I'm familiar with what de Raadt says about those. De Raadt makes the more reasonable argument about firmware. I can argue for the other side as well-- but it's beside the point.
BSD is becoming a solution that fixes some long-term issues that the Linux kernel is actually creating and adding to. It's almost funny, because people demonstrably cannot fork the Linux kernel. I've asked around. I've pestered the linux-libre author for years. Linux doesn't seem like it will be forked.
And yet, in BSD land you have entire operating systems (kernel and applications) forked in one swoop. Sometimes by relatively small teams.
I will try to get PyPy enough support that it makes its way back to OpenBSD. I have talked to ports maintainers about this, though ideally PyPy will eventually help also. (They probably figure they have their bases covered).
I know it may come down to the number of people interested in PyPy on BSD. But, I expect an increase in both of those groups, especially in BSD. I've been predicting that for years, and it's happening (I also predicted that Microsoft would try to buy Red Hat after GitHub. It was on the table, but they were worried about antitrust.)
Again, PyPy used to be available, but its build requirements are deprecated. I can appreciate the possibility of it simply getting abandoned. But there's really no reason it couldn't be brought back, instead. It will come down to whether people understand what it is, why it's not what PF is sort of implying (intentionally or otherwise) and whether somebody can make it available.
As it happens, the only libraries I'm using with PyPy are the standard ones, and Tkinter. Tkinter is also what's used to create the standard Python IDE, IDLE.
I have actually received some very useful tips in this thread, almost enough to get started on fixing this right now (fixing it eventually is the goal). I'm very grateful.
My favourite BSD is still OpenBSD. With that said, installing 6.8 (maybe not 6.9, maybe not 7.0) has earned points for NetBSD. I can tell this is predominantly a NetBSD community here. It's nice of you all to be open to the others. NetBSD got huge points with me today. I'm not going to stop supporting OpenBSD, but due to this issue which is very important to me, I (really) might donate to NetBSD this year instead of OpenBSD as was more likely. I haven't donated money to free software in at least a year, but it wasn't that long ago.
NetBSD was already becoming my second favourite, and second favourite isn't bad. But because it's not presently planning to drop Python 2, and the other BSDs are-- that's worth actual money to me. So is OpenBSD, but this is a priority and NetBSD is tending to it. I've checked the particulars of the Foundation and the donation options, and while I can assure you it won't be today (money IS tight, lots of things going on right now) I wouldn't be talking about this unless it was far more likely to happen than not. I won't mention it until long after the fact, but NetBSD probably made money on this. I can't do a Gold Sponsorship, but I can definitely do better than buying NetBSD a coffee.
But more than that, I really want to encourage projects to consider that different users have different needs. If I expected BSD to be everything to everyone, I would probably not have chosen OpenBSD in the first place. That's not what OpenBSD is about. But this isn't about adding features-- it's about keeping options. Within reason, of course.
As a hint, I'll tell you the two biggest things that tend to make me favour OpenBSD: Pledge, and the simple installer. I'm sure NetBSD is not going to go all out on Pledge (Firefox with Pledge can't even load things from directories other than ~/Downloads, it seems. Though that's a feature-- definitely not for everybody) and it may need all those installer options. But without Python (I've written a small Logo interpreter in Bash and I use ksh a lot in BSD) for my needs at least, it's half a system without it.
NetBSD got big points today. If anybody bad-talks it anytime soon I'll be sure to tell them "Hey now, NetBSD has some pretty good things going for it". Some of this may sound silly, but all of it is sincere. (Including the money part. NetBSD just made it to the top line of my donation list. I'll be telling other people that as well.)