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

[James Y Knight]

On Mar 2, 2011, at 9:54 AM, Allan McRae wrote:
> That way in ?? years when python-3.x is "the" python and python-2.x is obsolete, and it is decided that /usr/bin/python will be python-3.x (which I believe is the only logical outcome), 

But that's not the only logical outcome. A perfectly logical outcome is that /usr/bin/python disappears completely if python2.X isn't installed, and python3 is always called python3. That is the outcome I find sensible. And that is the crux of the disagreement in this thread. 


Those who think python3.X should stay /usr/bin/python3 forever do not see any reason to make everyone rewrite their existing python scripts to say "/usr/bin/python2" instead of "/usr/bin/python". So, there's no point in adding a /usr/bin/python2 now. Scripts that want python2 can remain using /usr/bin/python forever, and that will either be installed, or not installed, depending on whether that OS has a copy of python2.X.

Those who think python3 should (eventually someday, or maybe immediately, depending) be named or have an alias of "/usr/bin/python" want to make everyone rewrite their scripts to say /usr/bin/python2 now. For that position, it's unfortunate that python source doesn't install itself with an alias of /usr/bin/python2, and some distros don't install that alias either. So they want to fix that.

James