I would like to request an exception that allows the ardour5 package to use Python 2 during buildtime only. There are no other dependencies needed beside the Python interpreter. The dependency is not needed at runtime (because it is only used for the build system WAF) and will not affect end users at all.

• What is the reason for the Python 2 build dependency?

Python 2 is used for the WAF build system. The build system is incompatible with Python 3.

• What are the upstream/community plans/timelines regarding Python 2?
• What is the guidance for porting the build to Python 3? (Assuming that there is someone who generally knows how to port to Python 3, but doesn't know anything about the particular package, what are the next steps to take?)

Ardour is under heavy refactoring. Because of this, there haven't been new releases for 2 years, but the new code is not producion ready. The buld system has been ported to Python 3, the next release will be Python 3 compatible.