Supported Platforms for Python

[Kiran N Mallekoppa]

Hi there!

Our team at IBM are exploring the possibility of implementing one of our
products using Python. I had a query in this regard.

As per IBM's policy, we list details of platforms that our product works on
- including the flavors of OS, the versions supported (and sometimes, even
the service packs, if it matters) so that it is un-ambiguous to our
customers. As an example, you can have a look at this page.

Suppose we are riding on Python (i.e., implementing using Python), we need
to tell our customers in similar detail as to what platforms we support our
products on. I tried to find information about the platforms on which
Python is supported from your page. But, it does not detail the versions of
OS supported.

In this regard, I have the following questions. Thanks for taking your time
to respond.
1. Is this information available somewhere?
2. I was pointed to PEP-11, which documents the platforms that are not
supported. So, can we take that all active versions of Python (2.7.3 and
3.3, i believe) are supported on all the OS flavors that Python claims to
run on -- unless mentioned otherwise in the PEP-11?
3. Also, regarding the following entries listed in the PEP-11. So, any idea
which OSes implement these?
      Name: Linux 1		(Am guessing its the Linux kernel version
      1.0?)
      Unsupported in: Python 2.3
      Code removed in: Python 2.4
      Name: Systems defining __d6_pthread_create (configure.in)
      Unsupported in: Python 2.3
      Code removed in: Python 2.4
      Name: Systems defining PY_PTHREAD_D4, PY_PTHREAD_D6, or PY_PTHREAD_D7
      in thread_pthread.h
      Unsupported in: Python 2.3
      Code removed in: Python 2.4
      Name: Systems using --with-dl-dld
      Unsupported in: Python 2.3
      Code removed in: Python 2.4
      Name: Systems using --without-universal-newlines,
      Unsupported in: Python 2.3
      Code removed in: Python 2.4
      Name: Systems using --with-wctype-functions
      Unsupported in: Python 2.6
      Code removed in: Python 2.6
      Name: Systems using Mach C Threads
      Unsupported in: Python 3.2
      Code removed in: Python 3.3
      Name: Systems using --with-pth (GNU pth threads)
      Unsupported in: Python 3.2
      Code removed in: Python 3.3
      Name: Systems using Irix threads
      Unsupported in: Python 3.2
      Code removed in: Python 3.3


Warm Regards,
Kiran M N | Software Development (Rational Team Concert for Visual
Studio.NET) | IBM Rational | India Software Labs | Email:
kiran.m.n at in.ibm.com



From:	Michael Foord <michael at voidspace.org.uk>
To:	webmaster at python.org
Cc:	Kiran N Mallekoppa/India/IBM at IBMIN
Date:	08-11-12 08:10 PM
Subject:	Re: Supported Platforms for Python




On 8 Nov 2012, at 14:36, webmaster at python.org wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 08, 2012, Kiran N Mallekoppa wrote:
>>
>> Suppose we are riding on Python (i.e., implementing using Python), we
need
>> to tell our customers in similar detail as to what platforms we support
our
>> products on. I tried to find information about the platforms on which
>> Python is supported from your page. But, it does not detail the versions
of
>> OS supported.
>>
>> Is this information available somewhere? If not, can this be published
on
>> your site?
>
> Not really.  ;-)  You'll find some on
> http://www.python.org/download/other/
>
> However, Python is (mostly) plain C and Open Source, which essentially
> means that support is available for any platform where people are willing
> to invest resources.  AIX in particular has always been one of the
> problem platforms.
>
> What this means for you is that if IBM wants to allocate resources to get
> Python running on any particular platform, it almost certainly can be
> done, and we certainly would appreciate getting any such work contributed
> back to the community.
>
> If you want more information, you're probably best off using one of the
> discussion forums listed in your auto-reply.


As an addendum note that there is a list of explicitly unsupported
platforms (platforms that used to be supported and in which versions of
Python support was removed):

		 http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0011/

You can see which platforms we test Python, and the test systems are
considered stable, from our buildbots. The Python 2.7 ones are here:

		 http://buildbot.python.org/all/waterfall?category=2.7.stable

Another tangible way to support a platform is to provide and maintain a
buildbot for running the Python tests on.

All the best,

Michael Foord

> --
> Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>
http://www.pythoncraft.com/
>
> "....Normal is what cuts off your sixth finger and your tail..."
--Siobhan
>


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