bytecode non-backcompatibility

[Mike Meyer]

Maurice LING <mauriceling at acm.org> writes:

>>>Python can then have a built-in mechanism to read the description file
>>>and download the source codes and do the standard "sudo python
>>>setup.py install" to install the library into site-package.
>> I don't like this - it would make Python depend on sudo being
>> available. I'd rather it not do that, and let each systems
>> administrator issue the command according to *their* security policy.
>
> If you are installing packages into your home directory, then sudo is
> not needed. But if you are installing it for everybody's use, then it
> is necessary. Fink runs using superuser privileges.

No, sudo isn't necessary.  It isn't provided by
default for all Unix installations, so Python would have to add a
dependency on it, which would be a bad thing.

sudo is sufficient. Other means are also sufficient. It would be wrong
for Python to assume a specific Unix security model (i.e. - "sudo")
for installations.

    <mike

-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.