October 31, 2025
Faster Python, louder comments
Wheels for free-threaded Python now available for psutil
psutil gets ready‑to‑go downloads for faster Python — cheers, side‑eye, and file‑flood vibes
TLDR: psutil now offers easy, prebuilt installs for the new Python that runs threads in true parallel, sparking cheers from users and groans from maintainers. The crowd loves the speed and simplicity, but debates rage over the growing pile of separate downloads and hopes for a universal fix soon.
psutil just dropped ready‑made installs for the new “free‑threaded” Python (the version that finally lets multiple threads run at once), and the comments lit up. Veterans popped back in with warm fuzzies and big promises — one old‑timer basically said, “psutil is a great project,” and teased future plans, giving the thread that comeback‑tour energy. Meanwhile, stats fans waved receipts: the tracker is “looking pretty healthy,” jumping to 130 out of 360 top packages — progress you can actually measure.
But it wouldn’t be Python land without a little drama. Devs are thrilled for users who can now just run one command and skip the pain of installing huge compilers, especially on Windows — goodbye multi‑gigabyte setup, hello instant install. Yet behind the confetti lurks the “file flood”: maintainers grumbled about shipping a small zoo of separate downloads for each Python version and platform. The mood: “No universal wheel? No chill.” People cracked jokes about their CI (automated tests) turning into Jenga towers, while others begged, “wake me when one wheel works everywhere.”
Big picture: fans celebrate a real speed‑up moment, progress charts are trending up, and the packaging wars simmer on. The community vibe is equal parts “let’s go faster” and “please stop making me upload twelve files per release.”
Key Points
- •psutil 7.1.2 now provides wheels for free-threaded Python builds.
- •Free-threaded Python (since 3.13) disables the GIL, enabling true multithreaded bytecode execution for CPU-bound workloads.
- •Only 128 of the top 360 PyPI C extension packages currently offer free-threaded wheels, per Hugo van Kemenade’s tracker.
- •Universal wheels for free-threaded Python do not yet exist; authors must build separate wheels for Python 3.13 and 3.14 across platforms.
- •Users can install free-threaded psutil wheels via “pip install psutil --only-binary=:all:” to avoid source builds and toolchain setup.