[Python-Dev] Re: python-dev Summary for 2003-09-01 through 2003-09-15[draft]

[Brett C.]

Terry Reedy wrote:

> "Brett C." <bac at OCF.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in message
> 
> 
>>But then the point of OS X 10.3 possibly becoming the largest
> 
> install
> 
>>base of Python of any version (it will be 2.3) came up.
> 
> 
> I an somehow amused at the prospect of Apple OX (Uni)X releases
> influencing the timing of Python releases.
> 

I personally find it cool, but I am an OSX user, so I am biased beyond 
belief.

> 
>>With rough estimates being thrown around of 5 million installs
>>in about a year's
>>time, the point that making it difficult to run Python 2.3.x code on
>>that size of an install base would be bad.
> 
> 
> I've begun work on a 2.3 based project.  If I were to get users who
> have received rather than installed Python, I would be more hesitant
> to simply say 'upgrade', especially for minor features in a 2.3.x.
> 
> 
>>that this is Mac it should not be expected that most users will want
> 
> to,
> 
>>let alone know how, to add a secondary install of Python since the
>>original is used by the OS and thus should not be overwritten).
> 
> 
> I presume a Mac installer would know how to add rather than overwrite.
> 

Depends on how the installer is set up.  Most OS X apps are fully 
self-contained within a directory (when you see an application icon it 
actually is just a directory that happens to follow a specific naming 
scheme and layout).  So Python apps that needs a different version of 
the interpreter could include their own copy with their app (perk of 
there only being one CPU family is you only need to compile once).

But for a site-wide install, that gets a little trickier.  It is 
definitely doable, but there is not much of a standard (I would assume 
it would be in either /Applications or ~/Applications , but no 
guarantees; could specify at install and store it somewhere, I guess) 
and there is always the UNIX way but that is not as much of a worry 
since if you are mucking with the UNIX side you should know how to 
handle this situation.

> I am curious whether anyone has ever suggested to PC makers that
> Python + PyWin would be a useful addition to their Windows package -- 
> both for setup/admin scripts (as done by RedHat. ...,  and now
> Apple -- I don't know the specifics) and as a freebie addon (Basic for
> the 21st Century)?
> 

HP/Compaq uses Python for something.  webmaster at python.org gets email 
every so often about an HP/Compaq user wanting to know what Python is 
and whether they can uninstall it safely.

As for OS X, they are using it apparently for driving PDF generation (or 
at least that was my understanding).

And I don't think MS wants competition for VB.NET in the form of Python. 
  But it would be nice.

-Brett