[Tutor] Python 3 for Beginners was: (Re: intro book for python)

[David Rock]

> On Sep 3, 2017, at 08:55, Mats Wichmann <mats at wichmann.us> wrote:
> 
> On 09/03/2017 04:02 AM, Leam Hall wrote:
> 
>> Anyone that uses python on Linux has to use Python 2. 
> 
> Every current distro I know of has a python 3 package, plus lots and
> lots of add-ons in python 3 mode.  It's quite easy to use python 3 as a
> result... and if that doesn't work you can install your own to your
> workspace (rather than as a "system package") just as easily.

While a bit anecdotal, the complaint is valid.  Red Hat does not support Python 3 in their base installation on RHEL and the only way to get it “officially” (i.e., directly from Red hat) is through Software Collections, which is a bit cumbersome to use and not available in all cases.  There are a lot of places (including where I work) that frown heavily on using packages that aren’t from the base repositories from the OS maintainers.

Installing into “your own workspace” isn’t so easy when you are talking about 2000 servers, either.  In order for me to write code that I know will work across all the servers, I have to use python 2 because I know it will be there.  I can’t say the same thing about python 3, and that’s not something I’m likely to be able to fix within the bounds of company procedures.

So while the original statement is obviously false, the heart of why it was said is functionally true. 


— 
David Rock
david at graniteweb.com