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A modest PEP0238 suggestion

Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu
Wed Jul 25 22:19:39 EDT 2001 
Wed, 25 Jul 2001 17:31:27 -0700 in <3B5F64DF.EBA25066 at Lugoj.Com>,
James Logajan <JamesL at Lugoj.Com> spake:
> Tim Peters wrote:
>> I see I have 12 copies of the Microsoft C runtime library on my Win98 box at
>> the moment, and for the same reason:  serious Windows app developers are
>> careful to isolate themselves from C runtime changes too.
>> in-the-real-world-compatibility-doesn't-rely-on-luck-ly y'rs  - tim
> Well I see your problem already: you are developing on the wrong OS. It
> makes your thinking fuzzy. Some of us don't have Solaris, Linux, BSDI, AIX,
> Mac OS, etc. platforms all sitting on our desk (that would be some desk!) to
> build complete runtime interpreters. So we ship only source and hope the
> target users read the instructions on which version of Python we think we've
> validated our code on.

  Then there's my solution: I develop on Linux, do not ship source, do
ship .pyc files, tell the users to use Python 2.1, and tell them where
to get it.  If they try to use anything but Python 2.1, they will fail.
Not My Problem.

  I don't have a Windoze machine at home, and almost certainly never
will[0], so I'm not infected with Tim's brand of fuzzy thinking[1], and
yet after very minor tweaking of my Tkinter code it worked perfectly
when I tested it there.  Building the runtime for every platform does
not seem to be necessary.

  Everyone should be able to get Python 2.1, now or in the future, and
if they're on a shared system install or compile their own copy of it.

[0] Most amusing and bluntly honest article I've seen all month:
<http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3647/1/>
[1] Got my own brand o' that.
-- 
 <a href="http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/"> Mark Hughes </a>
"I will tell you things that will make you laugh and uncomfortable and really
fucking angry and that no one else is telling you.  What I won't do is bullshit
you.  I'm here for the same thing you are.  The Truth." -Transmetropolitan #39
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