[New-bugs-announce] [issue10964] Mac installer need not add things to /usr/local

[Russell Owen]

New submission from Russell Owen <reowen at users.sourceforge.net>:

The Mac installer alters the user's $PATH to put /Library/Frameworks/Python.Framework/Versions/Current/bin on the $PATH before /usr/local/bin and /usr/bin. This is a good idea in my opinion.

But the installer *also* installs numerous symlinks in /usr/local/bin. These symlinks are redundant with altering the $PATH. Thus they are redundant. They are also make it difficult to switch versions of python because it's tricky to know which symlinks should be deleted (and the list may depend on the current version of python).

This is problem for me because I often have to switch versions of Python while building binary installers for packages such as matplotlib.

My request is for the Mac python installer to leave /usr/local/bin alone.

For if there is a need to add symlinks to /usr/local/bin that I'm not seeing then my request is for an easy way to switch versions of python or at least get rid of the symlinks, e.g. a python version switcher script or symlink deletion script.

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assignee: ronaldoussoren
components: Macintosh
messages: 126661
nosy: reowen, ronaldoussoren
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Mac installer need not add things to /usr/local
type: feature request
versions: Python 2.7

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue10964>
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