Python versions (was Re: os.execl())

[Grant Edwards]

In article <uu1lot4hcueu0m6av968nrmkknejs6d45p at 4ax.com>, Sheila King wrote:

> This is one of the reasons that I've been trying to write my
> scripts so that they will still run on 1.5.2. I imagine quite a
> few hosts out there, who run RH out of the box will only be
> offering 1.5.2.

Yea, I maintain a Python program that we distribute with one of
our products.  Until RedHat starts installing 2.0, I have to
support 1.5.2 also.  :(

> Plus, there is the whole thing, with some people not even
> wanting to touch the RH 7.x. (I don't understand all the issues
> around this, but the fact is that even if RH does update their
> Python in their install routines, that some people don't even
> want to use the latest RH, for some reason...)

The last few x.0 distributions from RH haven't been pretty --
and they seem to be getting worse.  6.0 had quite a few
problems, and 7.0 was a disaster.  7.1 is usable, but it still
has Python 1.5.2 as the "default" Python, though 2.0 is
available as an optional package.  Some of the RH system
administration stuff was/is written in Python (both the
installer and rpm started life as a Python program, IIRC), and
I guess it's too much work to get it all working under 2.[01].

The good news is that everybody w/ RH has Python.  The bad news
is that it's so intimately connected with the system that it
doesn't get updated the way it would if it were just another
optional package.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I'm not available
                                  at               for comment...
                               visi.com