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

[Carl Meyer]

Hi Paul,

On 05/07/2012 04:16 PM, Paul Moore wrote:
> On 7 May 2012 21:55, "Martin v. Löwis"<martin at v.loewis.de>  wrote:
>>> 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.
>
> Personally, I would find a venv which required being run as an admin
> account to be essentially unusable on Windows (particularly Windows 7,
> where this means creating venvs in an "elevated" console window).
>
> Allowing for symlinks as an option is fine, I guess, but I'd be -1 on
> it being the default.

I don't think anyone has proposed making symlinks the default on 
Windows. At this point the two options on Windows would be to use the 
--symlink option explicitly, or else to need to run "pyvenv --upgrade" 
on your envs if you upgrade the underlying Python in-place (and there's 
a breaking incompatibility between the new stdlib and the old 
interpreter, which there almost never will be if the past is any 
indication).

I expect most users will opt for the latter option (equivalent to how 
current virtualenv works, except virtualenv doesn't have an --upgrade 
flag so you have to upgrade manually), but the former is also available 
if some prefer it.

In any case, the situation will be no worse than it is with virtualenv 
today.

Carl