Which Python version to code for?

[Aahz Maruch]

[posted & e-mailed]

In article <tlbbqas5b6hvff at corp.supernews.com>,
Charles Crain <chuxxx at swbell.net> wrote:
>
>I am part of the team working on SCons, the build tool for the Software
>Carpentry project.  We have an interesting quandry before us: what is
>the earliest version of Python we should support?  On the one hand, we
>would like to use the latest and greatest and be able to take advantage
>of the several powerful features added in recent Python releases.  On
>the other hand, we would like to avoid putting any barriers to adoption
>of our product that might arise from requiring users (particularly
>those in large organizations with high-intertia IT departments) to
>upgrade Python versions in order to use it.

Okay, I've done a bit of poking around on the Software Carpentry web
site to see if I can give you a good answer.  IMO, the answer depends on
whether this is intended to be a deployment tool for end users (i.e.
would someone installing a package on Linux need to use this?).

If the answer is "yes", you need to go back to 1.5.2.  If the answer is
"no", use whatever version of Python best fits your desire for features
versus stability, probably either 2.0.1 or 2.1.1.

Essentially, I'm arguing that it's "reasonable" to require a developer
to install a current version of a software package, but it's not
reasonable to so require an end user.
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