[Tutor] Linux versions

[Yigal Duppen]

> > and what are the complications for using Python on the different
> > systems.
>
> OOTC! :) Good. I'm not aware of any problems with Python. 

I do! :-)

There is one important caveat with most linux distros -- they allow (and 
often have) multiple versions of python to be installed simultaneously. So 
you can have 'python1.5', 'python2.1' and 'python2.2' on your system at the 
same time. Usually, there is also a 'python' executable which points to one 
of these versions.

But here is the catch -- not on all systems does 'python' point to the 
latest version! For example, on my Debian system, 'python' points to 
'python1.5'. I know RedHat systems suffer (or suffered?) from the same 
problem.

This means that if your program 'myprogram.py' uses any newish features, and 
you say
	python myprogram.py
you will get annoying, and at first incomprehensible, errors. So on my 
system I should say
	python2.2 myprogram.py

Not a major issue, but you have to be aware of it.

If you don't want any of this hassle, just use SuSE. It's the most 
userfriendly distro I've seen so far. And it only contains the latest 
Python version.

YDD