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Python 3.8.4rc1

Release Date: June 30, 2020

This is the release candidate of the fourth maintenance release of Python 3.8

Note: The release you're looking at is Python 3.8.4rc1, a bugfix release for the legacy 3.8 series. Python 3.11 is now the latest feature release series of Python 3. Get the latest release of 3.11.x here.

Major new features of the 3.8 series, compared to 3.7

  • PEP 572, Assignment expressions
  • PEP 570, Positional-only arguments
  • PEP 587, Python Initialization Configuration (improved embedding)
  • PEP 590, Vectorcall: a fast calling protocol for CPython
  • PEP 578, Runtime audit hooks
  • PEP 574, Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data
  • Typing-related: PEP 591 (Final qualifier), PEP 586 (Literal types), and PEP 589 (TypedDict)
  • Parallel filesystem cache for compiled bytecode
  • Debug builds share ABI as release builds
  • f-strings support a handy = specifier for debugging
  • continue is now legal in finally: blocks
  • on Windows, the default asyncio event loop is now ProactorEventLoop
  • on macOS, the spawn start method is now used by default in multiprocessing
  • multiprocessing can now use shared memory segments to avoid pickling costs between processes
  • typed_ast is merged back to CPython
  • LOAD_GLOBAL is now 40% faster
  • pickle now uses Protocol 4 by default, improving performance

There are many other interesting changes, please consult the "What's New" page in the documentation for a full list.

More resources

Windows users

  • The binaries for AMD64 will also work on processors that implement the Intel 64 architecture. (Also known as the "x64" architecture, and formerly known as both "EM64T" and "x86-64".)
  • There are now "web-based" installers for Windows platforms; the installer will download the needed software components at installation time.
  • There are redistributable zip files containing the Windows builds, making it easy to redistribute Python as part of another software package. Please see the documentation regarding Embedded Distribution for more information.

macOS users

  • For Python 3.8, we provide one installer: 64-bit-only that works on macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later systems.
  • Please read the "Important Information" displayed during installation for information about SSL/TLS certificate validation and the running the "Install Certificates.command".

And now for something completely different

ARTHUR (Graham Chapman): Please, good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
WOMAN: No one lives there.
ARTHUR: Then who is your lord?
WOMAN: We don't have a lord.
ARTHUR: What?
DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
ARTHUR: Yes.
DENNIS: But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting.
ARTHUR: Yes, I see.
DENNIS: By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,--
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: --but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more--
ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
WOMAN: Order, eh -- who does he think he is?
ARTHUR: I am your king!
WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you.
ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings.
WOMAN: Well, 'ow did you become king then?
ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king!
DENNIS: Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Full Changelog

Files

Version Operating System Description MD5 Sum File Size GPG
Gzipped source tarball Source release 2f969b647039d5033a6b4a386805b5da 23.0 MB SIG
XZ compressed source tarball Source release 176bb52bb03eb2b51059022c5f179e09 17.2 MB SIG
macOS 64-bit installer macOS for OS X 10.9 and later 6918febde4a7e323d2c0a9c555455ed5 28.8 MB SIG
Windows help file Windows c29e1837ec7be22144d1774f7b9063b8 8.1 MB SIG
Windows x86 embeddable zip file Windows 6955b01cff172ffff5cd3d8ebd37a6d9 7.0 MB SIG
Windows x86 executable installer Windows 65d002fb34c2e85bc4d4daa8e73bb4eb 25.5 MB SIG
Windows x86 web-based installer Windows 04dd1388715a01c08769257a0e7df6fa 1.3 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 embeddable zip file Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 1bd4d5234503fb029031747726524382 7.8 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 executable installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 c98f36f8c78b4b1ba1eb0bcf693b4eca 26.6 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 web-based installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 55d2098b6bde6585952fb67fb8ebd4fe 1.3 MB SIG