Python 2.6.x version module compatibility

[Stephen Hansen]

On 6/28/10 9:06 AM, Ratufa wrote:
> Suppose I have a webapp running in a virtualenv (--no-site-packages)
> cloned off a Python 2.6.2  install, running under mod_wsgi.   The
> virtual environment has various modules installed in it, some perhaps
> using C extensions.
>
> Question:  If the Python installation gets upgraded to 2.6.5 (or 2.6.7
> at some future point), and assuming mod_wsgi also gets
> compiled/installed against the new version, will the virtual
> environments have to be rebuilt and the modules re-installed?  Or, are
> Python installations w/in the 2.6.x series backwards compatible enough
> that, in the general case, the webapp will continue to work "as is"?
> This is under Linux, if it makes a difference.

ABI changes in minor releases (2.6.5 -> 2.6.6, etc) are not allowed; so 
as long as the C extensions (and certainly the python code, unless 
someone messed up badly) were compiled with 2.6.x, they should work fine 
with later updates to 2.6. The exception of course would be if there's 
some bug or regression that happened, but its not *supposed* to happen.

Conversely, if you upgrade to 2.7, you'll probably need to end up 
recompiling all the C extensions.

-- 

    ... Stephen Hansen
    ... Also: Ixokai
    ... Mail: me+list/python (AT) ixokai (DOT) io
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