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[Python-Dev] Support the /usr/bin/python2 symlink upstream

Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Mon Mar 7 01:08:15 CET 2011 
On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 4:12 AM, Matthias Klose <doko at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
> so -1 on the python link bits.

Some of the less mainstream distributions are starting to consider
moving to python3 as the *only* version of Python that is installed by
default, so I wanted to cover them in the suggestions (indeed, it was
those experiments that reopened this discussion, since the python link
could no longer always be trusted to mean Python 2.x, and the python2
link isn't available by default on most distros). Since allowing
forward-looking experiments like that is one of the major advantages
of the Linux distro model, I don't want to outright advise against
such attempts, even if it would be an absolutely terrible idea for a
mainstream distro targeted at widespread production usage to try it.

By advocating use of the python2 link, and pointing out that the
python link will likely start varying across platforms over the next
few years, we also help make it *possible* for distros and individual
sysadmins to eventually be able to change the target of the python
link safely.

That said, I'll look into rewording the main recommendations to more
strongly suggest keeping python -> python2 for any distro that cares
about backwards compatibility, with a note somewhere about the option
of making it point to python3 instead for distros that are more
willing to break third party code.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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