[Python-ideas] Migration of /usr/bin/python to python3

[Andrew Barnert]

On Mar 12, 2015, at 6:55 AM, Wes Turner <wes.turner at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mar 12, 2015 4:25 AM, "Antoine Pitrou" <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:43:25 -0600
> > Neil Schemenauer <nas-python at arctrix.com>
> > wrote:
> > > This has been brought up elsewhere, I think this is a better forum
> > > to discuss it.  Changing /usr/bin/python directly to python3.x is
> > > bad idea, in my option.  It's going to cause users trouble and the
> > > benefit to Python 3.x users is not worth it.  Instead, let's try to
> > > find a smooth migration path.
> >
> > As a data point, when you install Python 3 using Conda, the executable
> > is already called "python":
> >
> > $ python
> 
> Brew and pyenv also rely upon $PATH to determine which executable named 'python[maj.min]' to run a script marked as executable with.
> 
> +1 for the /usr/bin/env python[maj[.min]] approach is likely most portable (because it uses $PATH for what it is for)
> 
> * OSX 10.9 is still on 2.7.5 (i think w/o SSL security updates(!))
> * OSX 10.10 has ?.? ([1] lists 2.7.1 as most recent)
> 
2.7.6 on both my base 10.10 box and my 10.10.3 prerelease. (I think it's no longer violating NDA to answer questions about prereleases now that they're public betas rather than DRs... If I'm wrong, pretend I didn't say anything and just consider that they've only changed the Python version in a dot release once in the history of OS X, and that was before they got semi-serious about Python...)
> * I think it would be reasonable to request an update that adds a '/usr/bin/python2' symlink, so that paths can be '/usr/bin/env python[maj[.min]'.
> 
Is there someone who can make that request who Apple will listen to more carefully than just a random user's radar? Or should we all just go file radars and link them on OpenRadar for tracking?

Also, is there any change of getting it added to 10.9 and 10.10 bug fix releases?

Anyway, this would get us a step closer, but as long as there are millions more OS X 10.8, RHEL5, etc. boxes out there (that have python but not python2) than Arch boxes (where python means 3.x); 2.x-only app's still can't portably follow what PEP 394 recommends.
> * They seem more focused on (!OpenStack) Swift lately.
> 
It's not as if Python was ever their top priority in the first place. But they've clearly got at least someone working on Python integration given that they included a newer Python 2.7 (and things like newer PyObjC, newer and better-optimized NumPy, PyOpenSSL linked to the same dylib as Python itself, etc.) in each new major OS release, so it's not like there's nobody who could add the symlink...
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