[Python-Dev] Another update for PEP 394 -- The "python" Command on Unix-Like Systems

[Matthias Klose]

On 13.02.19 17:20, Victor Stinner wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm a (strong) supporter of providing a "python" command which would
> be the latest Python version!

This very much depends on what is working with the latest Python version, and
what amount of third party packages your distro has to support. It doesn't have
to be the newest version.

> As php does nowadays (after previous issues with "php4" vs "php5".) I
> don't recall that perl had "perl4" vs "perl5", the command was always
> "perl", no? Same for Ruby: it was still "ruby" after for Ruby 2, no?
> Only Python and PHP used different program names depending on the
> language version, no? And PHP now moved back to a single "php"
> program.

it's not only upstreams doing that kind of versioned names; distros are doing
that to ease the pain for larger transitions.

> In the container and virtualenv era, it's now easy to get your
> favorite Python version for the "python" command.
> 
> On my Windows VM, "python" is Python 3.7 :-) In virtual environments,
> "python" can also be Python 3 as well.

maybe the PEP should recommend to have python3 in virtual environments as well?

Matthias