---
id: eight
version: "1.0.1"
license: Apache Software License
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# eight — Python 2 to the power of 3. A lightweight porting helper library.

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 139.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Eight is a lightweight Python 2–3 compatibility layer that lets you write code targeting Python 3.3+ while running it on Python 2.7 without code changes. It backports Python 3 builtins (like print as a function, new-style division, and unicode literals) and renamed modules (queue, configparser, etc.) to their Python 2 equivalents, and can optionally wrap standard I/O and environment variables to behave like Python 3.

The package depends only on future and installs as a pure-Python wheel. It is designed to be a lighter alternative to six or python-future, with an explicit bias toward Python 3: removing eight from your code leaves it functioning normally on Python 3. However, the project has been abandoned since 2021-03-16, making this relevant only for maintaining legacy systems.

Use it for:

- Maintain a single codebase that runs on both Python 2.7 and Python 3 without conditional imports or version checks.
- Port Python 3 code to Python 2.7 environments where migration is not yet possible.
- Wrap standard input/output to handle text consistently across Python 2 and 3 in legacy applications.
- Decode command-line arguments and environment variables uniformly across Python versions in existing tools.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Eight provides a compatibility layer that lets you write Python 3 code and run it on Python 2.7 with minimal changes, offering Python 3 names and behaviors as backports.

No, unless you are actively maintaining a Python 2.7 codebase that cannot be migrated. The package is abandoned (last release 2021-03-16), and no security updates are forthcoming. For new projects, use Python 3 directly. For legacy systems, consider migrating to Python 3 or use a more actively maintained compatibility layer if absolutely necessary.

## Install

pip install eight
uv add eight
poetry add eight

## Installing eight

Before you install: Low install friction with a single pure-Python dependency (future). However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2021-03-16 with no activity since. Use only if maintaining legacy Python 2.7 codebases.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache Software License (permissive). You can use, modify, and distribute this code freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install eight

from eight import *
from eight import queue
from __future__ import print_function, division, unicode_literals, absolute_import

Requires Python 2.7 or Python 3.3+ to function; project is abandoned as of 2021-03-16.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package actually works reliably on modern Python 3 versions beyond 3.4 (last tested version in classifiers).
- How well the i18n support compares to six or python-future in practice.
- Whether abandonment affects compatibility with current Python 2 or 3 minor releases.
- Current viability for Python 2.7 environments given the age of the last release.

## Package facts

- License: Apache Software License (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 139.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

python 2 3 compatibility, python 2 to 3 porting, python 2 backport, cross-version python code, python 2.7 compatibility layer, legacy-python, python2-compat

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