Deprecate VERSION attribute in xml.etree.ElementTree

Author: hugovk

Doc/deprecations/pending-removal-in-3.20.rst

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 Pending removal in Python 3.20
 ------------------------------
 
-* The ``__version__`` attribute has been deprecated in these standard library
-  modules and will be removed in Python 3.20.
+* The ``__version__`` and ``VERSION`` attributes have been deprecated in these
+  standard library modules and will be removed in Python 3.20.
   Use :py:data:`sys.version_info` instead.
 
   - :mod:`argparse`
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Pending removal in Python 3.20
   - :mod:`tabnanny`
   - :mod:`tkinter.font`
   - :mod:`tkinter.ttk`
+  - :mod:`xml.etree.ElementTree`
   - :mod:`wsgiref.simple_server`
   - :mod:`zlib`
 

Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst

@@ -1018,8 +1018,8 @@ New deprecations
 
 * ``__version__``
 
-  * The ``__version__`` attribute has been deprecated in these standard library
-    modules and will be removed in Python 3.20.
+  * The ``__version__`` and ``VERSION`` attributes have been deprecated in these
+    standard library modules and will be removed in Python 3.20.
     Use :py:data:`sys.version_info` instead.
 
     - :mod:`argparse`
@@ -1040,6 +1040,7 @@ New deprecations
     - :mod:`tabnanny`
     - :mod:`tkinter.font`
     - :mod:`tkinter.ttk`
+    - :mod:`xml.etree.ElementTree`
     - :mod:`wsgiref.simple_server`
     - :mod:`zlib`
 

Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py

@@ -4705,6 +4705,19 @@ def get_option(config, option_name, default=None):
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+
+class TestModule(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_deprecated_version(self):
+        with self.assertWarnsRegex(
+            DeprecationWarning,
+            "'VERSION' is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.20",
+        ) as cm:
+                getattr(ET, "VERSION")
+        self.assertEqual(cm.filename, __file__)
+
+
+# --------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 def setUpModule(module=None):
     # When invoked without a module, runs the Python ET tests by loading pyET.
     # Otherwise, uses the given module as the ET.

Lib/xml/etree/ElementTree.py

@@ -83,15 +83,12 @@
     "SubElement",
     "tostring", "tostringlist",
     "TreeBuilder",
-    "VERSION",
     "XML", "XMLID",
     "XMLParser", "XMLPullParser",
     "register_namespace",
     "canonicalize", "C14NWriterTarget",
     ]
 
-VERSION = "1.3.0"
-
 import sys
 import re
 import warnings
@@ -2104,3 +2101,14 @@ def _escape_attrib_c14n(text):
     pass
 else:
     _set_factories(Comment, ProcessingInstruction)
+
+
+# --------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def __getattr__(name):
+    if name == "VERSION":
+        from warnings import _deprecated
+
+        _deprecated("VERSION", remove=(3, 20))
+        return "1.3.0"  # Do not change
+    raise AttributeError(f"module {__name__!r} has no attribute {name!r}")

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-12-16-14-21-20.gh-issue-76007.O4AmYl.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Deprecate ``VERSION`` from :mod:`xml.etree.ElementTree`. Patch by Hugo van
+Kemenade.