ActivePython: multiple versions on OSX?

Ned Deily nad at acm.org
Tue Jul 26 14:41:07 EDT 2011


In article 
<CAL_Nh-xfr50Unhz-5otoNa6qai1P+8_+z0cJfrLXF1tbNgP21w at mail.gmail.com>,
 Melton Low <softw.devl at gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
> On Mac OS X, a link is automatically installed in /usr/local/bin for each
> version of the Python executables, ie python2.7 for the 2.7.x  and python3.2
> for 3.2.x.  Just invoke your script with the appropriate Python version.
>  eg. python3.2 yourscript to run 'yourscript'.

Yes, the default action for the python.org OS X installers is to install 
the /usr/local/bin version specific links.  However, that is not a 
complete solution for managing framework versions.   The main problem is 
that, again by default, Distutils-packaged scripts are installed into 
the framework bin directory.  This means there is no ambiguity or 
conflict among the same package/script installed in different versions 
of Python - a good thing - but it also means the proper way to manage 
which Python is invoked by `python` or by `python3` (and `python2 in the 
future when PEP 394 is approved and implemented) is by ensuring the 
desired "primary" version's framework bin directory comes first on the 
shell PATH environment variable.  The python.org installers provide a 
script to do that, although somewhat crudely.

Let's say I've used the python.org 2.6, 2.7, and 3.2 installers (and 
deselected the option to automatically update the shell scripts) and 
then use Distribute to install easy_install into those instances.  There 
is also an Apple-supplied Python 2.6 and easy_install (and 
easy_install-2.6) in /usr/bin.

$ curl -O http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
$/usr/local/bin/python2.6 distribute_setup.py
$/usr/local/bin/python2.7 distribute_setup.py
$/usr/local/bin/python3.2 distribute_setup.py
$ echo $PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
$ which python python2.6 python2.7
/usr/bin/python
/usr/bin/python2.6
/usr/local/bin/python2.7
$ which easy_install easy_install-2.6 easy_install-2.7
/usr/bin/easy_install
/usr/bin/easy_install-2.6
# note that there is no access to the easy_install-2.7
#    nor to the correct easy_install-2.6 for the python.org 2.6

$ open /Applications/Python\ 2.6/Update\ Shell\ Profile.command
$ bash -l
$ echo $PATH
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/
sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
$ which python python2.6 python2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/python
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/python2.6
/usr/local/bin/python2.7
$ which easy_install easy_install-2.6 easy_install-2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install-2.6

$ open /Applications/Python\ 2.7/Update\ Shell\ Profile.command
$ bash -l
$ echo $PATH
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/Library/Frameworks
/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/loc
al/bin:/usr/X11/bin
$ which python python2.6 python2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/python2.6
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2.7
$ which easy_install easy_install-2.6 easy_install-2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/easy_install
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install-2.6
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/easy_install-2.7

# Now "easy_install" refers to the 2.7 version just as "python" does.

Python 3 instances work similarly although, since Apple does not yet 
ship a system Python 3, there is no conflict with /usr/bin and the 
Python 3 framework bin directories include "python3" links instead of 
"python" ones, so there is also no conflict with Python 2 instances.

$ open /Applications/Python\ 3.2/Update\ Shell\ Profile.command
$ bash -l
$ echo $PATH
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin:/Library/Frameworks
/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/V
ersions/2.6/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
$ which python python2.6 python2.7 python3 python3.2
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/python2.6
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin/python3
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin/python3.2
$ which easy_install easy_install-2.6 easy_install-2.7 easy_install-3.2
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin/easy_install
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install-2.6
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/easy_install-2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin/easy_install-3.2

But here is a potential gotcha!  Distribute does not provide a 
"easy_install3" link when installing into a Python 3 instance so now the 
unversioned "easy_install" command refers to the Python 3.2 version, 
which may not be what you expected.  You can change the search order of 
PATH:

$ export 
PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:/Library/Frame
works/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Python.framew
ork/Versions/3.2/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X1
1/bin
$ which easy_install easy_install-2.6 easy_install-2.7 
easy_install-3.2/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/eas
y_install
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install-2.6
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/easy_install-2.7
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.2/bin/easy_install-3.2

To make this change permanent, you would need to edit the appropriate 
shell startup file, for example, .bash_profile.  Or be careful about the 
order in which you run the Update Shell Profile commands in the first 
place.

When in doubt, you can always use the version-specific name (in this 
case that works but most Python packages do not provide version specific 
links) or you can use an absolute path.  There are, of course, other 
strategies for dealing with the third-party packages in case of 
ambiguities, for example using virtualenvs or using Distutils alternate 
installation options, like --home.

The situation gets more complex if you have installed Pythons from 
distributors other than python.org;  these may be installed in the same 
or in different locations and may or may not be framework builds.  But 
the general principles still apply.

The current state is not ideal, especially for new users of Python.  I'm 
hoping we can make life a bit easier by the time 3.3 is released next 
year.

-- 
 Ned Deily,
 nad at acm.org




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