Python 2.6 OR 3.2

[Benjamin Kaplan]

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 11:00 PM, harrismh777 <harrismh777 at charter.net> wrote:
> Andrew Berg wrote:
>>
>> AFAICT, there are three reasons to learn Python 2:
>
>   ... there is a fourth reason.
>
> The linux distro you are using currently was customized with python 2.x
>
> I ran into this problem this week in fact... on my HP g6 ubuntu notebook
> running 10.04 lucid. It ships with the 2.6.5 interpreter. I installed 2.7.1
> and 3.2 (from sources) and was working along happy as a clam until I needed
> to configure a printer... and the config tools would not function... some of
> them would not even open.  Want to guess?  Yup, the config tools are (some
> of them) written in python 2.6-- and they don't run in 2.7.1 nor 3.2  .   :(
>
> So, be careful.  I have had to separate *all* of my python installs on
> *every* one of my systems for this similar reason. The bottom line is if the
> distro ships with 2.6 (minus the idle) chances are that the interpreter is
> there *not* to advocate for python explicitly, but because the interpreter
> is being used by the system somewhere. If you install 2.7 or 3.2 you need to
> be careful to *not* interfere with the default setup.
>
> So, you will need to be able to use both.  There is no getting around it...
> but, I would start with 3.2 (seriously). Get 3.2 under your belt and then
> when you need to, go back and deal with the 2.6 regression.
>
> 3.2 is better built, is more logically consistent (it really is, no
> kidding), and has some new features that make it very attractive. The
> down-side is that some (most) of the library support is still not there for
> many projects.   It will take some time, but it will happen.
>
>

There's an altinstall make target that you're supposed to use in cases
like this. It won't make the /usr/local/bin/python symlink (or
whatever prefix you're using), just pythonx.y. This way, the programs
that depend on "python" referring to a specific version will still
continue to work and you can have your newer version. The Ubuntu
packages that depend on the system Python+ system installed packages
*should* be specifying /usr/bin/python specifically but as you can
see, they don't always do that.

>
> kind regards,
> m harris
>
>
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