Martijn Faassen: The Call of Python 2.8

[Terry Reedy]

On 4/15/2014 5:05 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 6:33 PM, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
>> On 4/15/2014 2:08 AM, Ben Finney wrote:
>>>
>>> Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> writes:
>>>
>>>> The 'mistake' is your OS, whatever it is, not providing 3.3. It is
>>>> already so old that it is off bugfix maintenance. Any decent system
>>>> should have 3.4 available now.
>>>
>>>
>>> I think you mean “… should have Python 3.3 available now”, yes?
>>
>>
>> ??? why would you think that??? My installed 3.4.0 for Windows is dated
>> March 16.
>
> Debian's current stable (Wheezy) was released 2013/05/04, and the
> latest version release of it (7.4) was 2014/02/08. Both those dates
> precede 2014/03/16, so you don't get 3.4 in Wheezy. (Actually, you
> don't even get 3.3, presumably because its launch date of 2012/09/29
> missed the Wheezy feature freeze in mid-2012.) Debian Jessie (current
> testing) ships 3.3 and 3.4, with the 'python3' package giving you 3.3.

There are three things a distribution can do with a new Python version:
1. Push it on people.
2. Allow people who need it to easily get it.
3. Actively hide it and discourage its use.

I happen to think 2) is generally the right answer.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy