Robert Kern wrote: >> The problem will arise for every package, not only numpy, so Apple >> fixing this is the best solution IMHO. > > It's unlikely they are going to. If they put that stuff there, it's because > they > are using it for something, not as an (in)convenience to you. I don't > recommend > using the Python.framework in /System for anything except for distributing > lightweight .apps.
AARRGG! This has come up before, when IBM was putting python in systems for some reason. Also, anyone remember RedHat, when upgrading python all their stuff would break. The problem there was that they refused, for some unknown reason, to specify a python version in their #! lines, nor did they specify a path (i.e., they used /usr/bin/env python) -- so you couldn't change the default python without all of RedHat's utilities breaking. The issue here is that if Apple had put site-packages on the path before their Extras dir, then when someone did something like install an upgrade to numpy (what a good idea) there is a chance that some Apple-supplied utility that relies on numpy would break. Hence Roberts solution: treat the Apple Python as a system only tool, only to be added to by Apple themselves. I guess that's OK, but it's really silly that it has to be that way. The solution: support versioning of packages in python! This came up some years ago, when wxPython developed a versioning system -- it would have made much more sense for their to be a standard way to do it, but the core folks on python-dev didn't see the point. oh well. The way I see it, python is a very good, robust, general purpose tool. It's a great thing for OS suppliers to provide python for system and users use -- I'd love to see it treated as other system libraries and utilities are, but to do that, there must be a versioning system for packages -- so Apple can use the version they installed, and a user can install and upgrade along side it, and not break anything. It's analygous to shared libraries -- it's insane to use shared libs without versions - we'd have to statically link everything. Having to install all of Python, and all those packages because you want to upgrade numpy just seems crazy. </rant> Sorry about that! -Chris -- Christopher Barker, Ph.D. Oceanographer Emergency Response Division NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig
