About this new release [531.0.0 (2025-07-22)] of Google Cloud CLI that lists this as one of the changes:
“Updated windows bundled Python for the gcloud CLI to 3.12.10”
Does anybody know if that new version still requires this patch from @NoCommandLine ?
Thanks.
Not familiar with provided patch under windows. Have you tried to use additional flag to specify python3 runtime?
dev_appserver.py --runtime_python_path=/path_to_your_python3/interpreter/bin/python3 /path/to/your/app
Here official Local development server options documentation
Hi @Vladyslav_Repin, If you’re not familiar with that patch, I have to ask you: Have you tried to develop on Windows using dev_appserver.py and Python 3.x?
This is how I start my apps in development env. (my local PC):
D:\Python311\python.exe "path\to\dev_appserver.py" --runtime_python_path=D:\Python311\python.exe --python_virtualenv_path=path\to\myvenv311\ --port=8088 --admin_port=8005 --datastore_path=path\to\datastore\dsp3.datastore --enable_console=yes path\to\your\app\
I’m using now Python 3.11 and for years we’ve had to rely on that patch to make it work on Windows. My question was if after that new release to support Python 3.12.10 we’d still need to use that patch to make it work.
Hello @micdearmas,
It’s hard to give a clear answer. Using Windows as a development environment is uncommon (imo), which might explain the low activity and stars on the patch even if it’s actually useful. If no one can give feedback from experience, the best way is to test it yourself or follow the official doc.
GCP still states that dev_appserver does not support Python 3 apps on Windows. To me, Python 3 includes all versions under the Python 3.x family.
On GitHub, the patch includes details on HOW it helps and doesn’t seems limited to gcloud.
Alternatively, if you’re interested, you can also set up a developer-friendly environment on Windows :
All of them integrate well with VS Code, WebStorm, and probably other IDEs.
Thank you @LeoK , I’ll keep that in mind.
However, I was surprised to see that you think that developing on Windows is not common to the point that I looked it up.
Asked this question “What share of the software development community uses Windows as their development environment?” on ChatGPT and Google AI Studio. I think you’ll be surprised by the answers to that question.
Anyway, Windows was the target platform when they first released GAE many years ago, but (for Python) after the supported runtimes became 3.x versions that support started to falter. It’d be nice if it could work again out of the box for that platform because many (if not a majority - depends who you ask) of people still develop on Windows and I’m not talking about having to install another OS or subsystem on top of it.
When it comes to GCP, I think that Linux is the better choice. The lack of proper Python 3 support on Windows is a dealbreaker for me. I’m not talking about general usage or personal preference, just GCP.
As for your point on GPT/Gemini, it doesn’t surprise me ! Five years ago, WSL and Docker weren’t as mainstream. Go back 10 or 15 years and it’s even more obvious.
Honestly, I would’ve probably been more comfortable working on Windows back in 2015, even more than what I was actually doing. 
Now, if you look at GPT’s sources when asked such questions, it often pulls from things like the 2025 Stack Overflow survey. In the Cloud Dev section, over 70% of devs use Docker. That’s a strong signal, cloud providers are heavily Linux-oriented.
@LeoK Yes, you probably have a point there regarding GCP.
Nonetheless, one of the things I liked most about GAE (even after it became part of GCP) was that it hid a lot of complexities of the infrastructure/architecture from web app developers, so one could focus in the business logic and other things app related without having to learn a lot of the underpinnings of it all.
For example, one didn’t need to learn Docker or similar to get a very scalable app up and running. Most of the things one needed to build such apps were in an SDK easy to install and to use. Unfortunately, all that ease of use and convenience has been eroding slowly but certain to where we are now that is difficult for one person to handle all the aspects a simple app requires.
I don’t want to get here into the Linux vs Windows argument because that’s a completely separate book in itself, but after many many years the latter is still the OS of choice of the vast majority of people despite its price. It’s lamentable that support for such OS is failing here and one find oneself having to deal with a steeper learning curve just to continue using GCP.
I totally get where you’re coming from. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled either when I had to switch to a Linux environment. Still not a fan of working on MacBooks either. I’ve always had my habits on Windows, it just feels like the most versatile OS for personal use. So yes, I’m not surprised at all that people want to stick with it. I’d even include myself in that group. I was doing pretty much everything with PowerShell back then.
That said, I think the real issue lies more on Microsoft’s side than Google’s. From what I saw, the patch you shared seems to bypass most of the Windows-specific limitations tied to Python App Engine which by design, runs Python apps inside containers secured by gVisor on up-to-date Ubuntu images.
Even Microsoft now recommends using Linux (via WSL) for Python web development.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to hijack your original post. Just wanted to share some alternatives, especially WSL since it’s a Microsoft product, it feels like a more natural transition. It might take a bit of time to get used to but once you’re in, you won’t regret it.