[RELEASE] Python 3.12.4 released

Last minute bugs in test environments notwithstanding, 3.12.4 is now
available!
 https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3124/
<https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3124/>
<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#this-is-the-third-maintenance-release-of-python-312-1>This
is the third maintenance release of Python 3.12

Python 3.12 is the newest major release of the Python programming language,
and it contains many new features and optimizations. 3.12.4 is the latest
maintenance release, containing more than 250 bugfixes, build improvements
and documentation changes since 3.12.3.
<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#major-new-features-of-the-312-series-compared-to-311-2>Major
new features of the 3.12 series, compared to 3.11
<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#new-features-3>New
features

   - More flexible f-string parsing
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-701-syntactic-formalization-of-f-strings>,
   allowing many things previously disallowed (PEP 701
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0701/>).
   - Support for the buffer protocol
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-688-making-the-buffer-protocol-accessible-in-python>
   in Python code (PEP 688 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0688/>).
   - A new debugging/profiling API
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-669-low-impact-monitoring-for-cpython>
   (PEP 669 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0669/>).
   - Support for isolated subinterpreters
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-684-a-per-interpreter-gil>
   with separate Global Interpreter Locks (PEP 684
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0684>).
   - Even more improved error messages
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#improved-error-messages>.
   More exceptions potentially caused by typos now make suggestions to the
   user.
   - Support for the Linux perf profiler
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/howto/perf_profiling.html> to report
   Python function names in traces.
   - Many large and small performance improvements
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#optimizations> (like PEP
   709 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0709/> and support for the BOLT binary
   optimizer), delivering an estimated 5% overall performance improvement.

<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#type-annotations-4>Type
annotations

   - New type annotation syntax
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-695-type-parameter-syntax>
   for generic classes (PEP 695 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0695/>).
   - New override decorator
   <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#pep-698-override-decorator-for-static-typing>
   for methods (PEP 698 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0698>).

<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#deprecations-5>
Deprecations

   - The deprecated wstr and wstr_length members of the C implementation of
   unicode objects were removed, per PEP 623
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0623/>.
   - In the unittest module, a number of long deprecated methods and
   classes were removed. (They had been deprecated since Python 3.1 or 3.2)..
   - The deprecated smtpd and distutils modules have been removed (see PEP
   594 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0594/> and PEP 632
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0632/>. The setuptools package continues to
   provide the distutils module.
   - A number of other old, broken and deprecated functions, classes and
   methods <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#removed> have
   been removed.
   - Invalid backslash escape sequences in strings now warn with
   SyntaxWarning instead of DeprecationWarning, making them more visible.
   (They will become syntax errors in the future.)
   - The internal representation of integers has changed in preparation for
   performance enhancements. (This should not affect most users as it is an
   internal detail, but it may cause problems for Cython-generated code.)

For more details on the changes to Python 3.12, see What’s new in Python
3.12 <https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html>.
<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#more-resources-6>More
resources

   - Online Documentation <https://docs.python.org/3.12/>.
   - PEP 693 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0693/>, the Python 3.12
   Release Schedule.
   - Report bugs via GitHub Issues
   <https://github.com/python/cpython/issues>.
   - Help fund Python directly
   <https://www.python.org/psf/donations/python-dev/> or via GitHub Sponsors
   <https://github.com/sponsors/python>, and support the Python community
   <https://www.python.org/psf/donations/>.

<https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-12-4-now-available/55128#enjoy-the-new-releases-7>Enjoy
the new releases

Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and
these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by
volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python
Software Foundation.

Regards from still quite sunny Sunnyvale,

Your release team,
Thomas Wouters @thomas <https://discuss.python.org/u/thomas>
Łukasz Langa @ambv <https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv>
Ned Deily @nad <https://discuss.python.org/u/nad>
Steve Dower @steve.dower <https://discuss.python.org/u/steve.dower>