Why Python 2.7’s End‑of‑Life Matters for Your Projects

Python 2.7 officially reached end of life on January 1, 2020, meaning Python 2 is fully retired and the era of Python 3 has begun.

The Python founder announced two years ago that support would end, and on that date the majority of popular packages on the Python Package Index (PyPI) already run on both Python 2 and 3, with daily growth. The retirement of Python 2 will affect the security of millions of systems.

Because of compatibility issues between Python 2 and the next‑generation Python 3, the deprecation has been a focal point for developers and companies; before the retirement, businesses must ensure their codebases migrate to Python 3 for easier maintenance. Notable projects such as NumPy, Requests, and TensorFlow stopped supporting 2.x in 2020, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS removed Python 2, QEMU ended its Python 2 support, and Fedora introduced a unified process to deprecate thousands of Python 2 packages.

Although migration is urged, like Windows XP, Python 2 will continue to run in many legacy environments, and third‑party groups may step in to maintain it.

Nevertheless, it is recommended to follow the official migration guide, which provides advice on running Python 2 code under Python 3.

Python 2, thank you for your loyal service. Python 3, now is your era.