Python vs. Fedora and CentOS

[John Nagle]

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
> Hi Jason,
> CentOS is based on RHEL SRPMs. How could it ship a more advanced version 
> of Python than RHEL?
> 
> I have CentOS 5.4 installed, and it only offers Python 2.4.3.
> 
> And distrowatch.org backs this up -- the latest Python available for 
> Centos 5.x is 2.4:
> http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=centos

     Shared hosting services mostly run CentOS or RHEL; there's a trend away
from running Fedora Core.  So if you want to do anything in Python that
is intended to run on shared hosting, you have to target Python 2.4.

     I have a dedicated server for a big site; there I can build
and install later Python versions.   That's not the problem.
It's the little sites, ones not big enough to need their own dedicated
server or virtual machine, where it's difficult to run Python.

     The current RHEL beta has Python 2.6, and that should be out this
year.  Hosting providers should start cutting over to it in 2011.
RHEL and CentOS have a 7-year life cycle.  So we can expect mainstream
availability of Python 2.6 from 2011 to 2018.

					John Nagle