Re: Question for the transition
On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, Neil Schemenauer wrote:
> Jérôme Marant:
> > The major question is: do we still need to ship 1.5.2? Unfortunately,
> > the old python seems to be necessary since some old packages are not
> > compatible with 2.x versions.
>
> Do you know of any? If you can point them out I may be able to help fix
> them.
>
> Scott Moynes wrote:
> > For what it's worth, Zope is not compatible with python 2.x, ...
>
> AFAIK, Zope 2.4.0 and later is compatible with Python 2.1. I still
> don't see the need for multiple versions of Python packages.
Any program that exists with Python dependent versions will need
multiple versions of Python packages. Maybe Zope today, who knows
what tomorrow. Either Debian supports multiple installed versions of
Python out-of-the-box, or users start jumping through a bunch of hoops
to do it themselves.
Keep in mind that Guido himself seems to consider having multiple
versions of Python installed to be no big deal, and has even suggested
it as a remedy for code breaking changes to the interpreter when the
old code can not be easily upgraded (search through the c.l.py PEP238
threads for the first references to Python-3.0 for context). Either
Debian supports multiple Pythons, or Debian's users are the ones with
the caveat and extra paragraph of instructions (instead of, or in
addition to, RH users? ;).
Myself, I'm a tinkerer and like the convenience of having everything
well integrated into the system... I'd rather tinker with code than
with installing Pythons (building docs, fixing #! lines, making menu
entries, etc.), someone needing some other Python than the one Debian
choose would likely feel the same way (`I wanna run the app, not play
with Python'). I'm waiting for the experimental packages to get into
unstable so I can make a Debianizing template (i.e., dh_make
--custom=template) to simplify packaging up Python alpha releases.
I suppose the argument could be made that Debian-stable is not going
to see any new packages, so make it consistent and simple <period>...
but that ignores the fact that Debian is just a starting point, who
knows what users are going to do with the system. This is not just a
coincidence; I seem to recall, from reading about Debian before I even
installed it, that Debian is designed to be re-distributed and didn't
have (e.g.) a single mail subsystem, users had to choose what they
wanted and were expected to have some knowledge about what they were
doing. [hmmm, I guess that is also an argument for not requiring
perfection out of the implementation]
- Bruce
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