[Pythonmac-SIG] Re: 2.3b1 installer suggestions

[Bugbee, Larry]

Some interesting choices.  ...but whichever, I'm concerned for the =
Novice.  (I have some high and jr-high school students in mind.)  If we =
'muck' with the path, we should be crystal clear about what we did.  If =
we don't, we should be crystal clear about what the user should do to =
get the desired effect. =20

Good word 'muck'.  I like it.  :-)

> > 	>   And then...  How about an installer option to 'disable'
> > 	> /usr/bin/python?  That too could be a Good Thing.
> >
> > 	Hmm... No, I think I don't want to do this. What the installer (or
> > 	something else?) could check is that /usr/local/bin is on your =
$PATH,
> > 	and that it comes before /usr/bin. Would that be good enough? Who
> > 	should check this? I'm thinking that we may want an application=20
> > similar
> > 	to OS9 EditPythonPrefs that allows you to set all sorts of Python
> > 	preferences (probably by mucking with ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist).
> >
> > Disable, path resequencing... I really dunno.  Novice users will not =

> > understand either, although a case could be made that they should.  =
I=20
> > guess I still prefer disable because I cannot think of any real =
reason=20
> > the /usr/bin version has to be there.  I don't believe even Apple =
uses=20
> > it, and if we are truely backward compatible...   And changing the =
dir=20
> > order in the path _could_ affect other stuff.  I agree changing the=20
> > dir order makes the most sense but because the *nix community=20
> > historically has had it the other way, are we asking for problems?  =
I=20
> > don't know.  ...and the Novice surely doesn't.
>=20
> I don't like disabling /usr/bin/python. I'm using /usr/bin/python in=20
> scripts that are distributed to clients and are using extension=20
> package. Disabling those scripts would break those scripts.
>=20
> BTW. If the installer is going to muck with the path it might be more=20
> usefull to add=20
> '/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin' to the=20
> front of the path instead of moving '/usr/local/bin' around. This =
would=20
> also help with scripts installed by distutils, unless you use=20
> additional arguments these currently end up inside the framework on a=20
> location that is not on the PATH.
>=20