Drop Python 2.4 support

[itamar]

RHEL 6 has been released, with a modern version of Python (RHEL 5 was the last holdout for 2.4). The compatible CentOS 6 isn't out yet, but presumably will be out soon.

I propose that Python 2.4 support be dropped in the next Twisted release after September -- Python 2.5 was released in Sep '06, so that's a 5 year window for people to upgrade. People who must stick with old distributions can build custom Python 2.5 package, they're already building Twisted as a custom package if they're using latest release.

If this is agreed, Twisted 11 should note this in the NEWS file. Jean-Paul additionally suggests a timeline on the wiki.

James proposes extending this to 2.6, since modern distributions have that.

[itamar]

Er, James proposes we drop 2.5 as well.

[exarkun]

I'm adding this to the 11.2 milestone, which will be the first release after September. We didn't announce this in 11.0, but we can still do it in 11.1, which will be in July.

[thijs]

The Python 2.3 reference in trunk/twisted/topfiles/setup.py also needs to be fixed.

[thijs]

Replying to thijs:

The Python 2.3 reference in trunk/twisted/topfiles/setup.py also needs to be fixed.

Opened #5060 for this.

[jml]

I think it's a good idea to release an 11.1 that supports the same Pythons as 11.0 and announces that it's the last such release.

Note that this is not a felt need for Canonical. We only care about the version of Python that's in the latest Ubuntu LTS, Python 2.6.

(Also, I don't think it matters much how big the delta is between 11.1 and 11.2, as long as it's non-zero.)

[itamar]

Changing to milestone 11.1 since this has to be announced with 11.1.

[thijs]

11.1 was released and the milestone should be closed.