[SciPy-User] Enthought Python Distribution questions

[Robert Kern]

On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 09:48, Chris Withers <chris at simplistix.co.uk> wrote:
> On 18/08/2011 09:57, Aronne Merrelli wrote:
>>
>>     Again on Mac OS X, where would I find this DocLinks folder?
>>
>>
>> On my Mac (OS X 10.6.8), the EPD stuff is installed here: (there are
>> DocLinks and Example subdirectories):
>>
>> /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/
>
> This is a symlink, which I really don't want EPD to touch.

Well, the installer will adjust it to point to the version that it
installs, which is the usual thing to do. You can adjust it to
whichever version you want to be considered "Current" afterwards.

> I guess I'm OK with using 7.0 in Python.framework, on the assumption
> that Python will never make it to 7.0, but really, it should be in
> EPD.framework, no?

Ideally, yes. Unfortunately, a number of tools rely on the framework
being named "Python.framework" and are difficult to configure to deal
with a different framework name. So we use Python.framework and a
version number equal to EPD's version. That still gets us in trouble
with a few tools that try to infer the Python version number from the
framework version number, but I've only encountered one or two, and
those were easy to patch to look up the version number robustly.

>> It looks like the "standard" python installations that come with MacOS
>> are here:
>>
>> /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/
>
> Yes, but what about installs of "normal python"? Why has EPD stomped on
> my /Current without even asking me?!

Because it's what the "normal python" installer would do too. If I had
a www.python.org installation of Python 2.6 that Current pointed to,
and then I installed the www.python.org Python 2.7, Current would get
updated to 2.7 without asking me. EPD's installer just does the same
thing. It's what every installer of frameworks does that I've ever
seen. They expect that if you explicitly install a framework, that you
want it to be Current.

>> own files (so I'm wasting a lot of disk space). My path is set to the
>> EPD version
>
> Which path? Aside from stomping on the /Current symlink, I'm curious
> about why EPD now appears to be the default python on my system...

$PATH

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless
enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as
though it had an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco