[Pythonmac-SIG] a beginner's list

[Kevin Ollivier]

Hi Chris,

On Feb 8, 2006, at 2:42 PM, Christopher Barker wrote:

> Kevin Ollivier wrote:
>> As does just explicitly upgrading your Python. I don't see why it's
>> breaking if you install Leopard, but upgrading if you install  
>> MacPython
>> 2.4 from pythonmac.org. Either way, your 2.3 extensions don't work  
>> and
>> you have to start from scratch. And either way, if you thought things
>> would "just work" you're in for a rude awakening.
>>
>> So what's the difference?
>
> The difference is that when you upgrade OS-X to leopard, you may or  
> may
> not know that you are upgrading Python, and if you did know, you  
> may not
> want to.

I do get your point about allowing people to postpone upgrades, but  
what I don't like is how you phrase it - you're talking about  
"keeping Apple Python from breaking your extensions". My point is:  
When people upgrade Python, anyway, anyhow, their extensions will  
break. MacPython 2.4 doesn't do anything more or less than Apple's  
Python in stopping that; it simply lets you put off upgrading your  
Python should you want to do so.

Python extensions always break when you upgrade the major Python  
version. Users *should* be aware of this, regardless of what platform  
they use or where they get their Python from. I really don't think  
they should be told it is something only to worry about when using  
Apple's Python. There is nothing OS X specific about this problem at  
all, and nothing Apple can do to resolve the problem except stop  
updating Python or stop bundling, both of which would be very bad.

Thanks,

Kevin