Can I have both Python 2.7 and Python 3.1 at the same time on the Mac?

[Bill Felton]

On Jan 6, 2011, at 3:46 PM, Ned Deily wrote:

> In article <775A9D45-25B5-4A16-9FE5-6217FD67F3AF at cagttraining.com>,
> Bill Felton <subscriptions at cagttraining.com> wrote:
>> I'm new to python, trying to learn it from a variety of resources, including 
>> references posted recently to this list.
>> I'm going through /www.openbookproject.net/thinkCSpy/ and find it makes use 
>> of gasp, which apparently is not compatible with 3.1.
>> I've also seen various resources indicate that one can install both Python 
>> 2.7 and Python 3.1 -- but when I did this, I get no end of problems in the 
>> 2.7 install.  IDLE, in particular, fails rather spectacularly, even if I 
>> launch it directly from the Python 2.7 directory in which it resides.
>> So, either I've been misled and should only try to have one or the other.  OR 
>> I'm missing some (probably simple) step that's mucking me up.
>> Help?
> 
> Yes, you can have multiple versions of Python installed on Mac OS X.  In 
> fact, Apple ships multiple versions of Python with OS X (2.6 and 2.6 
> with OS X 10.6, for example).  Starting with Python 2.7, python.org 
> offers two variants of OS X installers, one is 32-bit-only and works on 
> all versions of OS X 10.3.9 through OS X 10.6, the other supports 64-bit 
> execution and only works on 10.6 (as of 2.7.1).  Unfortunately, there 
> are some major interaction problems between Tkinter, Python's GUI 
> toolkit which is used by IDLE, and the Tcl/Tk 8.5 supplied by Apple in 
> OS X 10.6.  I'm assuming you installed the 64-bit version.  If so, until 
> the problem is resolved in the next maintenance release of Python 2.7, I 
> suggest you download and install the 32-bit-only version of Python 2.7.1 
> which does not have those problems.
> 

Thank you, Ned!  Installing what appeared to be the 'old OS' version seems to fix my difficulty.
IDLE now works fine without hanging, I can enter code, save, check syntax, and run from the 'new window'.
And 3.1 still works as before.

regards,
Bill
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