Our endorsements for Python’s first Packaging Council

TL;DR: Astral is proud to endorse William Woodruff, Pradyun Gedam, Ralf Gommers, and Donald Stufft for the inaugural Python Packaging Council.

We believe that with these members, the council can establish an effective, action-oriented approach to improving Python packaging.

At Astral, our mission is to make Python the most productive programming ecosystem on the planet. We work towards this mission by building great tools (uv, Ruff, and ty) that enable developers to ship faster and by advancing standards that allow an integrated Python experience across many tools.

We believe that packaging is a core part of the Python user experience and should receive commensurate attention. uv builds on a decade of progress in packaging standards, and we want the next generation of standards to unlock equally ambitious improvements. We are deeply invested in the future of Python packaging and committed to improving it with the community. However, as Python packaging has progressed and grown in complexity, and Python itself has become mission-critical to companies at all stages, it’s become clear that we need a more scalable approach to decision-making.

The Python Packaging Council (established by PEP 772) is the solution to sustainable progress in packaging standards. The council will have the authority to approve packaging standards and establish the processes through which changes are proposed, evaluated, and accepted. Its first members have a unique opportunity to push the ecosystem forward and set a clear direction for Python packaging and its governance.

We believe the council members should be ambitious, action-oriented, and share our vision for a healthy, modern, and sustainable Python packaging ecosystem. Together, they should bring expertise in the history of packaging, security, core infrastructure (like PyPI), community governance, and scientific computing.

We’re proud to endorse William Woodruff, Pradyun Gedam, Ralf Gommers, and Donald Stufft for the inaugural Python Packaging Council. We have extensive experience working with each of these people and are confident they are great choices for the community. You can read more about each of our endorsements below and find statements from all nominees on the PSF’s website.

Eligible PSF Voting Members can vote now through September 15. We look forward to working with the council and the wider community to help advance the Python packaging ecosystem.

William Woodruff #

We chose to put forward one candidate from the Astral team: William Woodruff, a uv maintainer with a decade of experience advancing Python’s security and modernizing packaging standards. His work spans PyPI’s support for MFA, API tokens, Trusted Publishing, and digital attestations; authoring zizmor; Trail of Bits’ external security audit of PyPI; and pip-audit. William has also authored or co-authored eight packaging PEPs, spanning digital attestations, Trusted Publishing, project status markers, package metadata, and the modernization and removal of legacy packaging infrastructure. William combines an optimistic, ambitious vision for Python packaging with the technical depth and ecosystem experience to turn that ambition into progress, which we believe makes him an exceptional fit for the inaugural Packaging Council.

Pradyun Gedam #

Pradyun has been a critical participant in the Python packaging ecosystem for nearly a decade, playing a key role in improving packaging’s interoperability and user experience. His contributions span maintaining pip, along with helping build foundational libraries like ResolveLib, packaging, and installer; authoring or co-authoring nine packaging PEPs; and successfully bringing maintainers together through Python Packaging Summits. As a co-author of PEP 609 and PEP 772, Pradyun helped establish both the PyPA’s governance model and the Packaging Council itself. We believe the council would benefit immensely from Pradyun’s technical expertise, experience building consensus across projects, and willingness to tackle difficult problems.

Ralf Gommers #

Ralf has been a central leader in the scientific Python community for over fifteen years. As a maintainer and steering council member for NumPy and SciPy, co-CEO at Quansight, and key driver of the WheelNext initiative, Ralf has helped shape both the tools and the community that Python packaging depends on. Ralf combines a deep understanding of scientific Python (and its packaging needs) with experience ensuring interoperability with the broader ecosystem. We believe his technical depth, thoughtful leadership, and experience addressing real-world packaging challenges would make him an invaluable member of the inaugural Packaging Council.

Donald Stufft #

The modernization of PyPI and the broader Python packaging ecosystem over the last thirteen years has largely been thanks to Donald Stufft’s careful attention to detail and ability to balance progress against breaking changes within the ecosystem. Through his PEP stewardship, including co-authoring PEP 8016 to establish the Python Steering Council, and work as a PEP-Delegate, Donald has helped shape both packaging standards and the processes through which they evolve. We believe his deep knowledge of Python’s packaging history, thoughtful approach to governance, and perspective on PyPI’s role in packaging would be invaluable in establishing the inaugural council.