On 2 August 2017 at 16:00, Matthias Klose <d...@ubuntu.com> wrote: > On 01.08.2017 01:40, Nick Coghlan wrote: >> We're still working on the details (see >> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ncoghlan/Default_python_module for >> my current notes), but what I'm currently leaning towards advocating >> at the Fedora level is: >> >> - we declare "/usr/bin/env python" and other environment aware >> invocations as already being effectively addressed, thanks to venv, >> environment modules, conda, and other existing PATH based solutions >> that change the interactive meaning of "python" >> - by some suitable mechanism, we offer 3 different configurations for >> the absolute "/usr/bin/python" path: symlink to /usr/bin/python2, >> symlink to /usr/bin/python3, and "Not configured yet, here's how to >> select your default interpreter" (as a matter of UX, I'm beginning to >> think we'll need to make the last one an actual installable script in >> its own right, as the default interpreter not found error from the >> shebang handler isn't particularly informative) > > that would only work, if the distribution has all uses of 'python' removed or > replaced by python2. I don't see a re-use of the python command before it has > stopped shipping in a distro release. Assuming that a next Debian release > would > be in 2019, not shipping the python command in 2021, and reintroducing it in > 2023 as python3 ... Is this really worth it?
For Debian potentially not, but Fedora's been pushing the python->python2 shift hard enough that we think we can get there by 2019 (or potentially earlier, given that it looks like 100s of the affected packages may actually be able to updated automatically). The twice-yearly release cycle also makes a big difference to the viability of the plan. That said, that's also why my proposed updates are more about saying to distributors "you know your specific audience better than we do, and we're now comfortable with the idea of making /usr/bin/python point to /usr/bin/python3 by default if that's what makes sense for your user base" rather than "You should make /usr/bin/python point to /usr/bin/python3 by default" (since the latter is still going to be the *wrong* choice for many redistributors). Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncogh...@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia _______________________________________________ Linux-sig mailing list Linux-sig@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-sig
