[Python-Dev] Python 3 as a Default in Linux Distros

[Terry Reedy]

On 7/24/2013 5:12 AM, Bohuslav Kabrda wrote:
> Hi all, in recent days, there has been a discussion on fedora-devel
> (see thread [1]) about moving to Python 3 as a default.

Default-shift is a known natural language phenomenon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retronym
It is inevitably messy in the middle. Even worse for us, "Python' is 
both a natural and artificial language term and the default meaning will 
not necessarily be synchronized across the two domains.

Not being a current *nix user, I have no opinion on the specific 
alternatives. However, I am concerned about newcomers being mis-served 
by being mislead into thinking that 'Python' is python 2 rather python 
3. We see this in some newbie posts on Python list. (This is especially 
a concern when default Python is still, say, 2.5.)  I have no idea, 
though, how to avoid breaking scripts while directing newcomers in the 
proper direction.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy