This is really by far the most important point in the thread. I understand the points about embedded use cases and all the other stuff that people bring up when

This is really by far the most important point in the thread. I understand the points about embedded use cases and all the other stuff that people bring up when the flames come out in 2 vs. 3. But this is specifically about RHEL. If you're using RHEL, the point here is almost entirely moot. You should never have been depending on system python for anything important anyway. If RHEL replacing Python 2 with Python 3 breaks any part of your code or your company, you have already made a huge shit sandwich for yourself. The fix, however, isn't that bad. Just start using virtual environments. It will take you a while to unravel hidden dependencies, but it's doable in a reasonable amount of time.