Pre-release of IPython 8.0.0a1 please test

This is to announce a pre-release of IPython 8.0.0a1.

IT IS ALPHA. There are many changes, deprecations removal, and I’ve changed how it is packaged quite a bit.

Please read the what’s new draft on the “latest” branch on readthedocs:

https://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/latest/whatsnew/version8.html

And please try by either installing the master branch, or via pip:

pip install ipython ipykernel --pre

the alpha is not, and will likely not be on Conda (Unless someone makes it happen see Nick comment below)

Note that you likely need to update ipykernel as well as IPykernel < 6.5 would pin IPython, while we didn’t break API, pip may still not upgrade IPython if you have older ipykernel.

Especially if you maintain packages, can you try that in CI see if it breaks anything.
I’m also looking for help to get a more polished what’s new.

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the alpha is not, and will likely not be on Conda.

No reason it couldn’t be!

We’ve done pre-release for a number of other packages, and it would get its own own mini-channel, e.g. conda-forge/label/ipython_alpha. If this of use to anybody, we can make it happen… and might anyway for a few more data points in CI. We could flex a bit there, as well, and add some downstream tests.

Subsequent alpha tags wouldn’t get triggered by the bot (even if we weren’t still dealing with the hangover of the windows pypy migration).

IPython 8.0.0b1 should be out,

As usual please try with

pip install ipython ipykernel --pre

I don’t expect many code changes between this and final release, so unless there are critical things that will mostly be it except documentation updates for 8.0.0.

So you can consider b1 a “soft code freeze” for the master branch until 8.0.0. I’ll try to schedule a 8.0.1 or an 8.1 in the weeks following 8.0.0, and focus on fixing things until then with a “soft freeze” on new features, and resume careful feature adding for post 8.1.

Happy Hollidays.