Python 2.4 final is out. A big thank you to Guido and the Python-dev team.

(See also my comments on Python 2.4 release candidate 1).

One with Python 2.4 is one I only discovered after having a go with release candidate 1 - extensions.

Python is build using Visual Studio on Windows. Python 2.3 and prior versions (at least as far back as Python 1.5.2) were build using Visual C++ version 6, so I was able to use distutils to build all my extensions. Python 2.4 is build with Visual C++ version 7.1, which I don't have, so it's not quite so easy. (Since I'm the one telling everyone around the office that we shouldn't go near .NET, I'm hardly in a position to ask for a copy!)

It is possible to build Python 2.4 extension using free (as in beer) tools from Microsoft - see Python 2.4 Extensions w/ the MS Toolkit Compiler - but I've not had the time to download (at least 380 MB!) and install everything that's required as yet. In particular, I can't find anywhere to download the .NET Runtime.

Still, I'm sure pre-built binaries will be available soon enough.