add release post

Author: mattip

posts/2022/02/pypyv738-release.txt

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+.. title: PyPy v7.3.8: release of python 2.7, 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9
+.. slug: pypy-v738-release
+.. date: 2022-02-20 05:53:45 UTC
+.. tags: release
+.. category: 
+.. link: 
+.. description: 
+.. type: rest
+.. author: The PyPy Team
+
+=====================================================
+PyPy v7.3.8: release of python 2.7, 3.7, and 3.8-beta
+=====================================================
+
+The PyPy team is proud to release version 7.3.8 of PyPy. It has been only a few
+months since our last release, but we have some nice speedups and bugfixes we
+wish to share. The release includes four different interpreters:
+
+  - PyPy2.7, which is an interpreter supporting the syntax and the features of
+    Python 2.7 including the stdlib for CPython 2.7.18+ (the ``+`` is for
+    backported security updates)
+
+  - PyPy3.7,  which is an interpreter supporting the syntax and the features of
+    Python 3.7, including the stdlib for CPython 3.7.12. This will be the last
+    release of PyPy3.7.
+
+  - PyPy3.8, which is an interpreter supporting the syntax and the features of
+    Python 3.8, including the stdlib for CPython 3.8.12. This is our third
+    release of this interpreter, and we are removing the "beta" tag.
+
+  - PyPy3.9, which is an interpreter supporting the syntax and the features of
+    Python 3.9, including the stdlib for CPython 3.9.10. As this is our first
+    release of this interpreter, we relate to this as "beta" quality. We
+    welcome testing of this version, if you discover incompatibilities, please
+    report them so we can gain confidence in the version. 
+
+The interpreters are based on much the same codebase, thus the multiple
+release. This is a micro release, all APIs are compatible with the other 7.3
+releases. Highlights of the release, since the release of 7.3.7 in late October 2021,
+include:
+
+  - PyPy3.9 uses an RPython version of the PEG parser which brought with it a
+    cleanup of the lexer and parser in general
+  - Fixed a regression in PyPy3.8 when JITting empty list comprehensions
+  - Tweaked some issues around changing the file layout after packaging to make
+    the on-disk layout of PyPy3.8 more compatible with CPython. This requires
+    ``setuptools>=58.1.0``
+  - RPython now allows the target executable to have a ``.`` in its name, so
+    PyPy3.9 will produce a ``pypy3.9-c`` and ``libpypy3.9-c.so``. Changing the
+    name of the shared object to be version-specific (it used to be
+    ``libpypy3-c.so``) will allow it to live alongside other versions.
+  - Building PyPy3.9+ accepts a ``--platlibdir`` argument like CPython.
+  - Improvement in ssl's use of CFFI buffers to speed up ``recv`` and ``recvinto``
+  - Update the packaged OpenSSL to 1.1.1m
+
+We recommend updating. You can find links to download the v7.3.8 releases here:
+
+    https://pypy.org/download.html
+
+We would like to thank our donors for the continued support of the PyPy
+project. If PyPy is not quite good enough for your needs, we are available for
+direct consulting work. If PyPy is helping you out, we would love to hear about
+it and encourage submissions to our blog_ via a pull request
+to https://github.com/pypy/pypy.org
+
+We would also like to thank our contributors and encourage new people to join
+the project. PyPy has many layers and we need help with all of them: `PyPy`_
+and `RPython`_ documentation improvements, tweaking popular modules to run
+on PyPy, or general `help`_ with making RPython's JIT even better. Since the
+previous release, we have accepted contributions from 6 new contributors,
+thanks for pitching in, and welcome to the project!
+
+If you are a python library maintainer and use C-extensions, please consider
+making a HPy_ / CFFI_ / cppyy_ version of your library that would be performant
+on PyPy.
+In any case both `cibuildwheel`_ and the `multibuild system`_ support
+building wheels for PyPy.
+
+.. _`PyPy`: index.html
+.. _`RPython`: https://rpython.readthedocs.org
+.. _`help`: project-ideas.html
+.. _CFFI: https://cffi.readthedocs.io
+.. _cppyy: https://cppyy.readthedocs.io
+.. _`multibuild system`: https://github.com/matthew-brett/multibuild
+.. _`cibuildwheel`: https://github.com/joerick/cibuildwheel
+.. _blog: https://pypy.org/blog
+.. _HPy: https://hpyproject.org/
+
+What is PyPy?
+=============
+
+PyPy is a Python interpreter, a drop-in replacement for CPython 2.7, 3.7, 3.8 and
+3.9. It's fast (`PyPy and CPython 3.7.4`_ performance
+comparison) due to its integrated tracing JIT compiler.
+
+We also welcome developers of other `dynamic languages`_ to see what RPython
+can do for them.
+
+This PyPy release supports:
+
+  * **x86** machines on most common operating systems
+    (Linux 32/64 bits, Mac OS X 64 bits, Windows 64 bits, OpenBSD, FreeBSD)
+
+  * 64-bit **ARM** machines running Linux. A shoutout to Huawei for sponsoring
+    the VM running the tests.
+
+  * **s390x** running Linux
+
+  * big- and little-endian variants of **PPC64** running Linux,
+
+PyPy support Windows 32-bit, PPC64 big- and little-endian, and ARM 32 bit, but
+does not release binaries. Please reach out to us if you wish to sponsor
+releases for those platforms.
+
+.. _`PyPy and CPython 3.7.4`: https://speed.pypy.org
+.. _`dynamic languages`: https://rpython.readthedocs.io/en/latest/examples.html
+
+Known Issues with PyPy3.9
+=========================
+
+- There is still a known `speed regression`_ around ``**kwargs`` handling
+- We slightly modified the concurrent future's ``ProcessExcecutorPool`` to
+  start all the worker processes when the first task is received (like on
+  Python3.8) to avoid an apparent race condition when using ``fork`` and
+  threads (issue 3650_).
+
+
+What else is new?
+=================
+
+For more information about the 7.3.8 release, see the `full changelog`_.
+
+Please update, and continue to help us make PyPy better.
+
+Cheers,
+The PyPy team
+
+.. _`full changelog`: https://doc.pypy.org/en/latest/release-v7.3.8.html#changelog