What’s up Python? Pip supports locking, .pth files deprecated

A roundup of Python ecosystem news for May 2026. The headline item is pip 26.1 gaining experimental lock file support via the new pylock.toml standard (PEP 751), allowing commands like `pip lock .` and `pip install -r pylock.toml`. PEP 829 introduces .start files as a safer, more structured replacement for .pth files, using entry-point syntax instead of arbitrary exec() calls. Other highlights include Python 3.15.0 beta 2 (feature-complete with lazy imports and unpacking in comprehensions), Mypy 2.0 and 2.1 releases with parallel type checking, new uv/ruff/ty tutorials from PyDevTools, Django's GSoC 2026 plans, and a significantly faster Python VS Code extension update.