On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 08:09 -0500, James Carlson wrote: > > > > /usr/bin/python us a convenience symlink to the latest version of > > > > Python 2.x. > > > > > > What's the convenience symlink for the latest version of Python 3.x? > > > Or of Python in general? > > > > There isn't one. The purpose of /usr/bin/python is simply that if > > someone types "python" in a terminal _a_ version of python starts > > and they won't think that python isn't there. > > I'm a little puzzled by that. Why would /usr/bin/python give me the > latest version of Python 2.x in particular, rather than just the > latest version of Python in general?
Python 3.0 is very new and not widely adopted yet. > Why does history end at the end of 2.x? > > Why would I want the latest of a slowly dying major release? Many of the modules that you may be looking for are not yet available for 3.0. I expect that most people looking for "any version of python" are really looking for a 2.x release. Laca > > > > /usr/bin/python3.0 Uncommitted Python 3.0.w > > > > interpreter > > > > (32-bit) > > > > > > I'm not sure what "Uncommitted" means in this context. Ordinarily, it > > > would mean that other projects shouldn't use this link because it > > > could shift out from under them. But I suspect you actually mean the > > > opposite: you *want* projects implemented in Python to use these > > > specific version links to avoid surprises. > > > > /usr/bin/python3.0 is not a symlink, it's the python interpreter itself. > > Yes, I want projects to use the versioned binaries, but there is no > > guarantee that the Python upstream project won't make incompatible > > changes. Previously Python was Volatile (External), but that would > > have required contracts with the ever-growing number of consumers > > so it was upgraded to Uncommitted in the 2.5 case. > > It's probably a nit, but I suggest using Committed for the links and > Uncommitted for the language that it parses.
