[Python-Dev] Python 3 as a Default in Linux Distros

[Nick Coghlan]

On 25 July 2013 01:41, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> How's this for an updated wording in the abstract:
>
>   * for the time being, all distributions should ensure that python
> refers to the same target as python2
>   * however, users should be aware that python refers to python3 on at
> least Arch Linux (that change is
>     what prompted the creation of this PEP), so "python" should be
> used in the shebang line only for
>     scripts that are source compatible with both Python 2 and 3
>
> That's what the previous bullet point was *trying* to say, but it
> wasn't very clear, since the first half of the sentence was aimed at
> distributions, while the second was aimed at end users.

I'll also note that this is deliberately consistent with the behaviour
of the "py" launcher on Windows (as defined in PEP 397): if you invoke
that from the command with both Python 2.x and Python 3.x installed,
it will default to using the most recently released version of Python
2, *unless* you pass a "-3" on the command line, or the shebang line
indicates the script is a Python 3 script.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia