Python 2 is being sunsetted by the PSF, and many projects are following suit: https://python3statement.org/.

Several of our dependencies (numpy, pandas, scikit-learn) and a few known dependents (xarray, scikit-learn) are ending support for Python 2 in new releases at the end of 2018. Scikit-image has already dropped support in new releases. We may want to follow suit.

A few questions:

• When should we end python 2.7 support? Is Jan 1 2019 too soon?
• Is this something that downstream projects will be fine with?
• Do we want to do a clean break (my vote) or continue with bugfix releases/LTS for python 2 for a while?