Python 2.6 and 3.0 [PSARC/2009/043]

[James Carlson]

Laszlo (Laca) Peter writes:
> On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 07:34 -0500, James Carlson wrote:
> > John Fischer writes:
> > >     /usr/bin/python us a convenience symlink to the latest version of
> > >     Python 2.x.
> > 
> > What's the convenience symlink for the latest version of Python 3.x?
> > Or of Python in general?
> 
> There isn't one.  The purpose of /usr/bin/python is simply that if 
> someone types "python" in a terminal _a_ version of python starts
> and they won't think that python isn't there.

I'm a little puzzled by that.  Why would /usr/bin/python give me the
latest version of Python 2.x in particular, rather than just the
latest version of Python in general?

Why does history end at the end of 2.x?

Why would I want the latest of a slowly dying major release?

> > >     /usr/bin/python3.0      	    Uncommitted    Python 3.0.w interpreter
> > >     				    		   (32-bit)
> > 
> > I'm not sure what "Uncommitted" means in this context.  Ordinarily, it
> > would mean that other projects shouldn't use this link because it
> > could shift out from under them.  But I suspect you actually mean the
> > opposite: you *want* projects implemented in Python to use these
> > specific version links to avoid surprises.
> 
> /usr/bin/python3.0 is not a symlink, it's the python interpreter itself.
> Yes, I want projects to use the versioned binaries, but there is no
> guarantee that the Python upstream project won't make incompatible
> changes.  Previously Python was Volatile (External), but that would
> have required contracts with the ever-growing number of consumers
> so it was upgraded to Uncommitted in the 2.5 case.

It's probably a nit, but I suggest using Committed for the links and
Uncommitted for the language that it parses.

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive        71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
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