python 3 support for MoinMoin 1.9.x

[ThomasWaldmann]

Just to answer some FAQ:

MoinMoin 1.9.x only works on Python 2.7 and there is no plan to change the code to work on Python 3.

MoinMoin 2 (not released yet) will work on Python 3.x soon.

See also: https://moinmo.in/Python3

[ghost]

What is the temporary solution for the period between the end of python 2 and MoinMoin 2 release?

[ThomasWaldmann]

@chnnnkk You can either continue to run moin 1.9 on python 2.7 or (if possible) help with moin 2 development so it can be released earlier.

python 2.7 can be e.g.:

• last release of cpython 2.7 (which happened a few days ago) - if not offered via a distribution package, one could even do a custom install of that from source (make altinstall iirc)
• using some linux distribution with long term support that still includes (c)python 2.7
• pypy might be also an option (kind of experimental, but afaik they still support py27)

Of course this is less than perfect, but it is as it is and it won't change until more developers and testers step up contributing to moin 2 development, to speed up development and later the release process.

[sdturne]

This situation is likely going to force us to move to a different Wiki engine in the near future. We are a Red Hat shop, and we are constantly tasked with keeping systems upgraded to the latest releases and maintaining full security compliance. We are currently running MoinMoin 1.9.10 on a RHEL8 system (which is difficult enough because we have to use the RHEL7 version of the mod_wsgi package because the RHEL8 version is based on Python3), but it won't be long before we will be tasked with moving services to RHEL9, and running MoinMoin 1.9 there is not an option because Python2 is simply not available. What other option will we have? I have been watching the state of MoinMoin 2.0 for five years now and I have no reason to be optimistic that it will be released before we have to abandon RHEL8 and Python2.

This issue has been marked "wontfix", but I have to think that it would have at least been worth the effort to rework MoinMoin 1.9 so it runs under Python3. How hard could that be? I know, that's easy for me to say, but not having this to fall back on coupled with the continued non-release of 2.0 seems to be spelling the death of MoinMoin as far as I can see...

[ThomasWaldmann]

I won't put any effort to port moin 1.9.x to Python 3, but of course I can't hold anyone back.

But I really think that the time needed for that (which we have already invested when porting the moin code to python 3) would be better invested in helping with making moin2 production ready (which runs on Python 3).

Other options you have (with moin 1.9.x):

• try PyPy (which officially supports Python 2.x still, AFAIK)
• compile CPython 2.7 yourself (maybe pyenv is helpful)
• don't use mod_wsgi. you could use the bundled "wikiserver.py" and just put a reverse proxy in front of that. or some other python-based wsgi server implemented in python 2.7 or working with python 2.7.
• if it is a intranet wiki, maybe also just running it on some older dist is not a too big security issue. just make a VM, run only moin in it, maybe put a reverse proxy in front of it, have backups.