Python in Linux - barrier to Python 3.x

[David Cournapeau]

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 4:51 PM, Steven D'Aprano
<steve at remove-this-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:54:55 -0700, Ant wrote:
>
>> Yes you are right - I've checked on my home machine, and it is indeed
>> 2.6. Still, no Python 3 unless I upgrade to Fedora 13, and upgrading an
>> OS in order to get the latest version of one package is a bit much!
>
> Or you could install from source, which takes all of three minutes of
> effort. Well, maybe four. Eight if you've never done it before. Maybe
> twelve if you're cautious.

That only works if some cases. If you need some additional packages,
especially ones which depend on C extensions, that may be difficult or
even hopelessly intractable. Typically, if your want to install say
matplotlib with pygtk with a custom built python, you are in for a fun
ride because you have to rebuild everything. That the cases where you
really want something that integrates well with the native packaging
system, whatever that ends up to be.

cheers,

David