bpo-29708: Add What's New entries for SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH and py_compile (GH-5306)

Doc/whatsnew/3.7.rst

@@ -479,6 +479,17 @@ begins.  (Contributed by Barry Warsaw in :issue:`31389`.)
 pdb command line now accepts `-m module_name` as an alternative to
 script file. (Contributed by Mario Corchero in :issue:`32206`.)
 
+py_compile
+----------
+
+:func:`py_compile.compile` -- and by extension, :mod:`compileall` -- now
+respects the :envvar:`SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` environment variable by
+unconditionally creating ``.pyc`` files for hash-based validation.
+This allows for guaranteeing
+`reproducible builds <https://reproducible-builds.org/>`_ of ``.pyc``
+files when they are created eagerly. (Contributed by Bernhard M. Wiedemann
+in :issue:`29708`.)
+
 
 re
 --
@@ -544,6 +555,12 @@ Added functions :func:`time.thread_time` and :func:`time.thread_time_ns`
 to get per-thread CPU time measurements.
 (Contributed by Antoine Pitrou in :issue:`32025`.)
 
+unicodedata
+-----------
+
+The internal :mod:`unicodedata` database has been upgraded to use `Unicode 10
+<http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode10.0.0/>`_. (Contributed by Benjamin
+Peterson.)
 
 unittest
 --------
@@ -565,20 +582,6 @@ children by preventing to get or set any new attribute on the sealed mock.
 The sealing process is performed recursively. (Contributed by Mario Corchero
 in :issue:`30541`.)
 
-xmlrpc.server
--------------
-
-:meth:`register_function` of :class:`xmlrpc.server.SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher` and
-its subclasses can be used as a decorator. (Contributed by Xiang Zhang in
-:issue:`7769`.)
-
-unicodedata
------------
-
-The internal :mod:`unicodedata` database has been upgraded to use `Unicode 10
-<http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode10.0.0/>`_. (Contributed by Benjamin
-Peterson.)
-
 urllib.parse
 ------------
 
@@ -624,6 +627,13 @@ methods can now compare text of the current node with ``[. = "text"]``,
 not only text in children.  Predicates also allow adding spaces for
 better readability.  (Contributed by Stefan Behnel in :issue:`31648`.)
 
+xmlrpc.server
+-------------
+
+:meth:`register_function` of :class:`xmlrpc.server.SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher` and
+its subclasses can be used as a decorator. (Contributed by Xiang Zhang in
+:issue:`7769`.)
+
 zipapp
 ------
 
@@ -680,10 +690,16 @@ Optimizations
 Build and C API Changes
 =======================
 
+* :mod:`py_compile` and :mod:`compileall` now support the
+  :envvar:`SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` environment variable by unconditionally
+  building ``.pyc`` files for hash verification instead of potentially
+  timestamp-based ``.pyc`` files. See the notes for the `py_compile`_
+  improvement notes for more details.
+
 * A full copy of libffi is no longer bundled for use when building the
   :mod:`_ctypes <ctypes>` module on non-OSX UNIX platforms.  An installed copy
   of libffi is now required when building ``_ctypes`` on such platforms.
-  Contributed by Zachary Ware in :issue:`27979`.
+  (Contributed by Zachary Ware in :issue:`27979`.)
 
 * The fields :c:member:`name` and :c:member:`doc` of structures
   :c:type:`PyMemberDef`, :c:type:`PyGetSetDef`,