PEP 641: open issue for the idea of standardizing on double digit minor version numbers (#1715)

pep-0641.rst

@@ -125,6 +125,31 @@ updated to use an underscore as well (e.g. ``.pyc`` files, the import
 path to the zip file for the stdlib). It is not known how useful it
 would be to make this pervasive.
 
+Standardizing on double digit minor version numbers
+---------------------------------------------------
+An alternative suggestion has been made to disambiguate where the
+major and minor versions start/stop by forcing the minor version to
+always be two digits, padding with a ``0`` as required. The advantages
+of this is it makes the current ``cp310`` interpreter tag accurate,
+thus minimizing breakage. It also does differentiate going forward.
+
+There are a couple of drawbacks, though. One is the disambiguation
+only exists *if* you know that the minor version number is two digits;
+compare that to ``cp3_10`` which is unambiguous regardless of your
+base knowledge. The potential for a three digit minor version number
+is also not addressed by this two digit requirement.
+
+There is also the issue of other interpreters not following the
+practice in the past, present, or future. For instance, it is
+unknown if other people have used a three digit version portion of the
+interpreter tag previously for another interpreter where this rule
+would be incorrect. This change would also require interpreters that
+currently have a single digit minor version -- e.g. PyPy 7.3 -- to
+change from ``pp73`` to ``pp703`` or make the switch from their next
+minor release onward (e.g. 7.4 or 8.0). Otherwise this would make this
+rule exclusive to the ``cp`` interpreter type which would make it more
+confusing for people.
+
 
 References
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