Not all releases in a series will support all Python versions, the matrix above is for the latest patch release. For more up-to-date info

Feature releases (A.B, A.B+1, etc.) will happen roughly every eight months. These releases will contain new features, improvements to existing features, and such. These can include documented backwards incompatibilities where a deprecation path isn’t possible or not worth the cost.

Patch releases (A.B.C, etc.) will be issued as needed, to fix bugs and/or security issues. These releases will be 100% compatible with the associated feature release, unless this is impossible for security reasons or to prevent data loss. So the answer to “should I upgrade to the latest patch release?” will always be “yes.”

The last feature release for a major version will be designated as long-term support (LTS) release. These releases will get security and data loss fixes applied for a guaranteed period of time, typically three years. Deprecations started in an LTS release (say X.2) will be dropped in a non-dot-zero release (Y.1).

See the supported versions policy for detailed guidelines about what fixes will be backported. .