Fedora 33 To Finally Kill Off Python 2.6 Support

Separate from the whole Python 2 removal effort with the Python 2.7 that is EOL'ed since the start of the year, Fedora 33 due out later this year is looking to be their first release dropping the even older Python 2.6 series.

Python 2.6 has been end-of-life all the way back to late 2013. However, Python 2.6 packaging for Fedora has kept upt in order to maintain some compatibility with RHEL/EPEL 6 having Python 2.6. But now with EPEL 6 reaching end-of-life as the extra packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 / CentOS 6, Fedora will gut its Python 2.6 support should anyone still be using it outside of the EPEL building/testing use-case. EPEL 6 is being retired in November 2020, similar to the expected release of Fedora 33.

The change proposal for Fedora 33 (not to be confused with the upcoming Fedora 32) was made earlier this week. Along similar lines, another change proposal is retiring Python 3.4 in Fedora 33. The Python 3.4 support was kept around for EPEL6 and Debian 8 Jessie testing purposes.