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

[Nick Coghlan]

On 25 July 2013 10:06, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 25 Jul 2013 05:30, "Toshio Kuratomi" <a.badger at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 12:42:09PM -0400, Barry Warsaw wrote:
>> > On Jul 25, 2013, at 01:41 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
>> >
>> > >How's this for an updated wording in the abstract:
>> > >
>> > >  * for the time being, all distributions should ensure that python
>> > >refers to the same target as python2
>> > >  * however, users should be aware that python refers to python3 on at
>> > >least Arch Linux (that change is
>> > >    what prompted the creation of this PEP), so "python" should be
>> > >used in the shebang line only for
>> > >    scripts that are source compatible with both Python 2 and 3
>> >
>> > +1
>> >
>> +1 as well.  Much clearer.
>
> OK, unless someone gets to it before me, I'll update it tonight.

Update is here: http://hg.python.org/peps/rev/4b379a690ae2

I added one final bullet point to the abstract with advice for users:

* in preparation for an eventual change in the default version of
Python, Python 2 only scripts should either be updated to be source
compatible with Python 3 or else to use python2 in the shebang line.

I also rewrote the first two bullet points in the Migration Notes
section, as I realised they contributed heavily to the notion that
distros like Fedora should switch aggressively, while only the
conservative distros like RHEL and Debian stable should preserve the
old behaviour (which wasn't the intent at all).

Finally, I added a couple of other notes:

* one pointing out the kind of time frame we're thinking about (i.e.
years) by mentioning the 2.7 switch to security fix only mode
* one noting that the Python launcher for Windows also default to
Python 2 if both 2.x and 3.x are installed, so we're also aiming for
cross platform consistency here

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia