[Pythonmac-SIG] a beginner's list

[Bob Ippolito]

On Feb 8, 2006, at 2:11 PM, Kevin Ollivier wrote:

>
> On Feb 8, 2006, at 1:34 PM, Bob Ippolito wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>>>
>>> It's a bit confusing to talk as if needing new extensions ==
>>> breakage. (You know you're a geek when it's second nature to write
>>> equality tests like this. ;-) I remember Python 2.1 and I've had to
>>> upgrade several times, and I never thought of re-installing my
>>> extensions as 'fixing what broke'. I called it 'upgrading'. Some
>>> people may see initially see what appears to be broken scripts, but
>>> unfortunately that would just be because they aren't aware of issues
>>> that may occur when upgrading their Python install. I don't think  
>>> the
>>> proper solution is to keep them from upgrading; we just need to  
>>> build
>>> awareness that a new Python major version means new extensions.
>>
>> We're talking about upgrading Mac OS X, which implicitly upgrades
>> Python and obsoletes all of your extensions.  I'd call that breaking.
>
> As does just explicitly upgrading your Python. I don't see why it's
> breaking if you install Leopard, but upgrading if you install
> MacPython 2.4 from pythonmac.org. Either way, your 2.3 extensions
> don't work and you have to start from scratch. And either way, if you
> thought things would "just work" you're in for a rude awakening.

The difference is that if I didn't know better, I'd get really pissed  
off if I upgraded my OS and all of my very important work stuff  
breaks and makes me waste a day tracking down what needs to be  
fixed.  That's not what an OS upgrade is supposed to do.  It doesn't  
do that for anything except applications that depend on moving  
targets like the system's Python or Perl interpreter.

If a third party Python had been used all along, the user has freedom  
to upgrade their OS *and/or* their interpreter on their schedule.

-bob