Release Date: May 3, 2021

This is the tenth and final regular maintenance release of Python 3.8

Note: The release you're looking at is Python 3.8.10, 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.

According to the release calendar specified in PEP 569, Python 3.8.10 is the final regular maintenance release. Starting now, the 3.8 branch will only accept security fixes and releases of those will be made in source-only form until October 2024.

Compared to the 3.7 series, this last regular bugfix release is relatively dormant at 92 commits since 3.8.9. Version 3.7.8, the final regular bugfix release of Python 3.7, included 187 commits. But there's a bunch of important updates here regardless, the biggest being Big Sur and Apple Silicon build support. This work would not have been possible without the effort of Ronald Oussoren, Ned Deily, Maxime Bélanger, and Lawrence D’Anna from Apple. Thank you!

Take a look at the change log for details.

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

• Online Documentation
• PEP 569, 3.8 Release Schedule
• Report bugs at https://bugs.python.org.
• Help fund Python and its community.

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

• Python 3.8.10 ships two installers: the default 64-bit-only that works on macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later systems, and an experimental "universal2" installer for macOS 11 (Big Sur) and later
• 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

Mr. Praline (John Cleese): 'ELLO POLLY!!! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage , throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
Owner (Michael Palin): No, no... No, he's stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!
Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um... now look, mate. I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
Owner: Well, he's... he's, ah... probably pining for the fjords.

Full Changelog