Bring back Python 3.6 debugging support by breaking debugging out into its own extension

[brettcannon]

By making debugging a separate extension we can do an initial release using debugpy 1.5 which will work all the way back to Python 2.7, and then immediately do another release using debugpy 1.6. That way people who need debugging support for older Python versions can pin the debugging extension version but leave the Python extension alone to get newer feature support (if it works with the old version of Python that they are running).

[aamarin]

Is this only for debugging support? Or can Intellisense also be included? I work for a company that uses Red Hat 7 which does support 3.6 as part of the distribution.

[brettcannon]

This is only explicitly for debugging as IntelliSense shouldn't be affected by any of this as Pylance is written in TypeScript. If you're using Jedi then that is up to the Jedi project itself in terms of what versions they support.

[nutu]

I am feeling that this answers my question on why my debugger does not start: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74812777/vs-code-python-debugger-would-not-start-with-python-extension-2022-xx-xx-althoug?noredirect=1#comment132043707_74812777
What is the minimal python version that still works with the python extension debugger?

[brettcannon]

What is the minimal python version that still works with the python extension debugger?

Python 3.7.

[yanjieee]

v2022.6.3 working fine

[GitMensch]

Is there any ETA? I'm regularly hit by the update / new install then later wonder why something doesn't work on a remote...
Additional this would make the Python extension itself smaller which is nice for people that don't actually need to debug.

... and wouldn't this issue be still the same, so Python 2.7 still won't work (last time it did was v2022.2.x, I think)?

IntelliSense with Jedi for Python 2.7 is no longer supported

[brettcannon]

Simon Sobisch (@GitMensch) no promises, but we are hoping for a preview release in May.

And Python 2.7 is in the same situation as 3.6, so we would have to see if the last debugpy release would work with the extension and then make that the initial release, do an immediate new release for one that uses the newest version that supports back to Python 3.6, and then do yet another immediate release that uses the newest version of debugpy regardless of Python version support. But once again, no promises on whether we will be able to get support for Python 2.7 out.