#!/bin/env problem Was: Re: Backwards emulation rather than backwards compatibility?

[Dave Kuhlman]

While we're thinking about this, here is something I stubbed my toe 
on today:

I typically start my scripts with a first line like the following:

    #! /usr/bin/env python

Quite a few files in Python2.2.1/Lib do likewise.

But, when I tried to add an option to be passed to the Python 
interpreter by changing the first line to:

    #!/usr/bin/env python -t

I get an error message:

    /usr/bin/env: python -t: No such file or directory

Shouldn't I be able to pass a flag to the Python interpreter?  
Looking at the env man page did not help.  And, quotes around 
"python -t" did not help.  Is there another "trick"?

So I guess I am just asking for a solution to one more problem in 
addition to the one Chris is describing.

I'm on Linux, by the way.

  - Dave

Chris Barker wrote:

> 
> 
> Christopher Browne wrote:
>> Wouldn't it be easier to simply change the first line to:
>> #!/usr/bin/python1.5
> 
> Only on *nix....
> 
> I'd love to see a platform independent way of doing this. Maybe
> all we need to do is have the Python interpreter front-end look
> for that classic *nix line, and then dispatch the script to the
> correct interpreter for you. And have it work the same way on all
> platforms.
> 
> Yes, it's too late to have code like this in old scripts, but it
> only gets worse with each new version. This was brought up two
> versions ago (2.0). Also, while someone would have to go back and
> add a line to all their old scripts, this is a whole lot less work
> than checking each for incompatability with new features. OF
> course, that being said, RedHat seems to be incapable of adding a
> "1.5" to all their config scripts, so maybe there is more to it
> than I imagine.
> 
> All we need is a very simple dispatching front end, that looks for
> a key at the top of the __main__ script, and invokes the correct
> interpreter. A sysadmin could decide how many versions they want
> to support, but it should be easy to have a half a dozen non each
> machine. This really is a problem that needs to be addressed, and
> it just seems so easy!
> 
> -Chris
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Dave Kuhlman
dkuhlman at rexx.com
http://www.rexx.com/~dkuhlman