[New-bugs-announce] [issue43167] macOS python install need mechanism to prevent editing shell profile files

[Barry Alan Scott]

New submission from Barry Alan Scott <barry-scott at users.sourceforge.net>:

By default the python macOS installer will edit .bash_profile and .zsh_profile to add Python to the path.

For many users this is a problem that requires the added lines to be
removed after each install.

I suggest that there is a mechanism that the user can use to tell the
installer to leave the files as is.

Once option could be to add a marker in the profile files that when present turns off the editing.

For example a comment like:

# python: no-path-edit

Another possiblity is for the user to create a marker file that is checked for:

touch ~/Library/Preferences/org.python.no-path.edit

Any reasonable mechinism would be a great help.

----------
components: Installation
messages: 386647
nosy: barry-scott
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: macOS python install need mechanism to prevent editing shell profile files
versions: Python 3.10, Python 3.9

_______________________________________
Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue43167>
_______________________________________