Release with COM Record support working under Python 3.12

[geppi]

In the current pywin32 release 308 the COM Record support is broken due to Issue #2415 which was fixed with the merge of PR #2417. In the meantime a few other Pull Requests ( #2310, #2317, #2437 ) have been merged that improve the support of COM Records in pywin32.

Other Issues ( #2155 and #2474 ) related to the GIL lock are fixed by PR #2426.

A new pywin32 release that includes the bug fixes and the improvements in the not too far future would be desirable.

Maybe the new release should wait until the conflicts of PR #2467 are resolved and is merged into main because there is more potential for GIL lock related Python interpreter crashes as the Issue of #2466 shows?

However, if there is anything I can do to help publishing the next release please let me know.

[Avasam]

If we're talking release wishes:

• PRs that update documentation: https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/pulls?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc+is%3Apr+is%3Aopen+label%3Adocumentation+
• PRs that had a small change after approval and need re-approval: https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/pulls?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc+is%3Apr+is%3Aopen+review%3Aapproved
• Postinstall improvements: https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/pulls?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc+is%3Apr+is%3Aopen+label%3Ainstallation%2Fpostinstall+-is%3Adraft

[geppi]

At the end of the day it drills down to the question which criteria have to be met for taking the effort to publish a new release.

As soon as the fix for an issue or the implementation of a feature has been merged into main, it is possible to download the latest committed version of pywin32 from the CI artifacts. Although, this is probably something the average pywin32 user will not do because they're used to an installation via conda or pip, I would argue that it's an effort you have to make if you require the latest and greatest version immediately.

However, if there are bugs that have the potential to impact a large number of users and if there are multiple related issues popping up, it probably is worth to publish a new release when those bugs have been fixed.

To me it looks like Python 3.12 did introduce some changes that now highlight an invalid handling of the GIL lock at various places in the pywin32 code. The root cause of the problem is identified and in the meantime @Mscht has resolved the conflicts of PR #2467 so that it's ready for review by @mhammond. I would argue that these GIL lock related bugs have the potential to impact a large number of users since they're breaking pywin32 in various places and that a new release would be justified when they're fixed.

That's the reason why I opened this issue. I understand that it's also desirable to get as many improvements as possible into a new release when they're ready to be merged. @Avasam you contribute a lot of improvements to this repository and the list above shows a substantial queue of PRs that seem to be ready or almost ready to get merged. It was not my intention to push for a new release to get access to features just important for me.

[Avasam]

Mark previously mentioned wanting to do releases more often. I generally agree in not wanting to arbitrarily wait just to "shove" more changes in a release.

Unless it's for important fixes/regressions that is, and all of mine are already merged. You already listed the other ones.

Hence I called those I listed above "wishes" rather than "must haves". As in, those are the things I'd like to reach end users sooner, but it's ok if they don't get in this release.

At the end of the day, the decision and timing is all on Mark H. who handles the releases :)

[mhammond]

I was intending to do better here! I'll cut a new release once the recent approvals have merged, thanks for your patience!

[geppi]

Thank you Mark!