[Python-Dev] PEP 405 (pyvenv) and system Python upgrades

["Martin v. Löwis"]

On 07.05.2012 18:35, Carl Meyer wrote:
> On 05/07/2012 03:52 AM, "Martin v. Löwis" wrote:
>>> 3) Symlink the interpreter rather than copying. I include this here for
>>> the sake of completeness, but it's already been rejected due to
>>> significant problems on older Windows' and OS X.
>>
>> That sounds the right solution to me. PEP 405 specifies that bin/python3
>> exists, but not that it is the actual Python interpreter binary that is
>> normally used. For each target system, a solution should be defined that
>> allows in-place updates of Python that also update all venvs
>> automatically.
>
> I propose that for Windows, that solution is to have a new enough
> version of Windows and the necessary privileges, and use the --symlink
> option to the pyvenv script, or else to manually update venvs using
> pyvenv --upgrade.

Sounds fine to me as well.

>> For example, for Windows, it would be sufficient to just have the
>> executable in bin/, as the update will only affect pythonXY.dll.
>> That executable may be different from the regular python.exe, and
>> it might be necessary that it locates its Python installation first.
>
> This sounds to me like a level of complexity unwarranted by the severity
> of the problem, especially when considering the additional burden it
> imposes on alternative Python implementations.

OTOH, it *significantly* reduces the burden on Python end users, for
whom creation of a venv under a privileged account is a significant
hassle.

This being free software, anybody needs to scratch her own itches, of
course.

Regards,
Martin