The Python Software Foundation engaged Changeset to develop, publish, and coordinate communication surrounding the sunsetting of Python 2.
Python’s 2.x line reached End of Life on January 1, 2020, meaning that the maintainers of Python 2 stopped supporting it, even for security patches. When PSF contacted Changeset, many institutions and codebases had not yet ported their code from Python 2 to Python 3. The Steering Council hired Changeset to help users through the end of the transition, help with communication so volunteers were not overwhelmed, and help update public-facing assets so core developers were not overwhelmed.
Harihareswara worked with Greg Hendershott, Jenny Ryan, Sandra Ordonez, Frances Hocutt, and Leonard Richardson to provide support services.
Changeset created a blog post, a a press release and a highly accessible FAQ, and collaborated with volunteers to improve a comprehensive FAQ. Changeset also developed a press distribution list, contacted news organizations, and prepared a private one-page messaging document as media preparation for interviewees. Media coverage included a story in Wired. Informal feedback and assessments demonstrated that the brevity and clarity of the accessible FAQ did help engineers and executives decide to migrate to Python 3.
Changeset also edited existing documentation, assessing and updating remaining Python 2 code and advice on www.python.org, docs.python.org, and wiki.python.org (example), both before the sunset date, and after it had passed.
Throughout this process, Changeset notified, requested feedback from, and earned approval from existing stakeholders. Changeset communicated with the Steering Council, core Python maintainers (using python-dev, GitHub, IRC, Discourse, and private email), documentation volunteers, Python founder Guido van Rossum, maintainers of widely used packages such as Requests, and other interested parties.