Backwards Compatibility of Python versions

[Paul Rubin]

Jeff Shannon <jeff at ccvcorp.com> writes:
> I suspect that this is the crux of the whole issue.  My personal
> feeling is that the only reason anybody *cares* at all about 1.5.2
> is because of Red Hat, and thus, indirectly, the large number of
> ISP's using it because it's what came with RH.  Once RH starts
> shipping with a reasonable Python version (which *ought* to be with
> 8.0, whenever *that* comes out, but hopefully *soon*), then 1.5.2
> will begin fading as people upgrade their RH installations.  It
> probably won't completely disappear by the time that Python 3.0 is
> released, but it should be a negligible concern by then. 

OK, that takes care of 1.5.2.  I gather that 2.0.* never became very
widespread.  So I wonder now, whether more people are using 2.1.* than
1.5.2, and whether there will still be a significant amount of 2.1
installations when 3.0 is released.  If it sounds like there won't be,
then I'll probably just put

   if 3/2==1: <print upgrade-to-new-script message and exit>

at the top of my scripts and then code for 2.1.  When 2.1 gets more
displaced by 2.2 and later, I can switch over to import future division.