[pypy-dev] Policy on Python 3 and Python 2 executable names

[Aaron DeVore]

>From what I can tell, PyPy doesn't have a policy on how package
maintainers should differentiate between Python 2 and Python 3
executables. I brought up adding "pypy2" on #pypy in March, but the
conversation quickly died.

CPython ran into the no-policy problem when Arch Linux decided to
switch /usr/bin/python to be Python 3. There wasn't a naming policy
for /usr/bin/python at that point. The PEP that represents the
relevant python-dev mailing list thread is PEP 394[1]. PEP 394 isn't
finished yet, but should be soon.

Possible solution [who uses it for CPython]:
1) pypy arbitrary, pypy2 for Python 2, pypy3 for Python 3 [PEP 394, Gentoo]
2) pypy for Python 2, pypy3 for Python 3, no pypy2 [Debian family]
3) pypy for Python 2, pypy2 for Python 2, pypy3 for Python 3 [Red Hat family]
4) pypy for Python 3, pypy2 for Python 2, pypy3 for Python 3 [Arch Linux]

I prefer #1 because it sticks with PEP 394 and is future-proof. #2 and
#3 take away future flexibility. #4 is a horrible, horrible idea at
present.

-Aaron DeVore

[1] http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/