[Python-Dev] Support the /usr/bin/python2 symlink upstream

[Michael Foord]

On 01/03/2011 21:19, Kerrick Staley wrote:
> Hello,
> There is a need for the default Python2 install to place a symlink at 
> /usr/bin/python2 that points to /usr/bin/python, or for the 
> documentation to recommend that packagers ensure that python2 is 
> defined. Also, all documentation should be changed to recommend that 
> "#!/usr/bin/env python2" be used as the shebang for Python 2 scripts.
> This is needed because some distributions (Arch Linux, in particular), 
> point /usr/bin/python to /usr/bin/python3, while others (including 
> Slackware, Debian, and the BSDs, probably more) do not even define the 
> python2 command. This means that a script has no way of achieving 
> cross-platform compatibility. The point at which many distributions 
> begin to alias /usr/bin/python to /usr/bin/python3 is due soon, and 
> for the next couple of years, it would be best to use a python2 or 
> python3 shebang in all scripts, making no assumptions about plain 
> python, which should only be invoked interactively. This email from 
> about 3 years ago seems relevant: : 
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2008-March/012421.html
> Again, this issue needs to be addressed by the Python developers 
> themselves so that different *nix distributions will handle it 
> consistently, allowing Python scripts to continue to be cross-platform.

+1

Note that a PEP will need to address what we do for Windows and Mac OS 
X. Less of an issue for Windows where we don't put python.exe on the 
PATH (which we *should*), but we still need to decide whether we will 
add python2 / python3 binaries.

Michael Foord

> Thanks,
> Kerrick Staley
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Python-Dev mailing list
> Python-Dev at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev
> Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/fuzzyman%40voidspace.org.uk


-- 
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/

May you do good and not evil
May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others
May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
-- the sqlite blessing http://www.sqlite.org/different.html

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/attachments/20110302/81fd9e9c/attachment.html>