No sooner have we updated our Macs to Monterey 12.2 than Apple has released the first beta of 12.3, with some important warnings of changes.

No Python

Those using the Python programming language will be aware that Apple is reducing bundled support for such languages. Python version 2.7 is being removed from Monterey 12.3. Nor does it ship with Python 3. What you’ll find at /usr/bin/python3 is only a stub, which will prompt you in the GUI to install Xcode or its developer tools. You’ll therefore need to bring your own Python.

Universal installers for the official Python Software Foundation distribution are available from here. If you want to make a relocatable Python framework containing PyObjC, then this GitHub should provide a good solution.

DropBox Desktop and Microsoft OneDrive

Both of these services have relied on kernel extensions to provide seamless access to items stored remotely. As from macOS 12.3, those kernel extensions won’t be supported any more, so both services are working on replacements.

For DropBox:

• Online-only files may not open in third-party apps unless they’re specifically made available offline.
• Full support for macOS 12.3 will be available in a beta-release in March.

For OneDrive:

• Files On-Demand will be mandatory for all users.
• Migration to this new service will occur automatically with the 12.3 update.
• HFS+ will no longer be supported from 12.3.
• The sync root will be located in ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal or a similar path, with a symbolic link to that location from the original OneDrive location.
• Pinning (keeping a local copy available even when offline) will be supported.
• Support will be added for tags, extended attributes, and more, which will be preserved on the local file system but still won’t sync with OneDrive.

If you use either of these, you should already have received an email giving further information.

Thanks to @mikeymikey for the Python information.