[Python-ideas] Migration of /usr/bin/python to python3

[Ian Lee]

~ Ian Lee

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 3:54 PM, Chris Barker <chris.barker at noaa.gov> wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Gregory P. Smith <greg at krypto.org> wrote:
>
>> I think /usr/bin/env is a bad idea to promote. It changes from an
>> explicit designation of what you need in order to execute to something
>> being derived from the users $PATH.  It is *less specific* than
>> /usr/bin/python. For some people that is the goal, but I discourage it.
>>
>
> I don't think the goal is specificity, or lack there of, but a shift in
> control:
>
> Who controls where python is installed?
>
> If you put an explicit full path on the #! line, then the script author
> controls which python is used, AND where it must be installed.
>
> If you put /usr/bin env on the #! line, then the script author is saying
> 'use python", and the script user can have python installed anywhere they
> want, and can use PATH to tell everything what the default it.
>
> I think that _should_ be encouraged -- but ideally with some versioning:
>
> #!/usr/bin/env python2
>
> or even:
>
> #!/usr/bin/env python3.4
>

+1 to encouraging this.


>
> If any of you remember what a pain it was when RedHat installed system
> tools with (I think):
>
> !#/usr/bin/env python
>
> You'll know what a nightmare that was -- you could not upgrade the
> 'default" python without breaking stuff.
>
> So system tools should probably use the full specific path -- the script
> is tied closely to the environment. But if they had at least put a version
> in there, it would have worked fine:
>
> #!/usr/bin/env python1.5
>
> These days, I try to use distutils or setuptools to install scripts, and
> they can do the right thing to use the correct python to start up anyway...
>
> -CHB
>
>
>
> --
>
> Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
> Oceanographer
>
> Emergency Response Division
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>
> Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
>
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