[Wolodja Wentland, 2009-09-20]
> I can see your need as a python application maintainer to be *sure* that
> the python version distributed with debian is used to run that program.
> But the '/usr/bin/env python' scheme will result in exactly that
> behaviour if the administrator/user has not intentionally installed a
> *unsupported* Python environment.
>
> I always had the impression that Debian relies on the fact that users
> install software via the package manegment system provided by Debian,
> but are still given the freedom to make adjustments to their environment
> for which they take full responsibilty. IMHO installing a new Python
> environment not provided (and supported) by Debian falls into this
> freedom. But this comes with responsibility ...
>
> To give a somewhat extreme example. A user could decide to install a new
> Python version within /usr/local - which i think is commonly done with
> Python 2.6 these days - and could link /usr/bin/python to
> /usr/local/bin/python2.6 . Which would - of course - be stupid but the
> administrator has the freedom to do so and has to live with the
> consequences, ie errors in the execution of programs installed with
> apt*.
If user/administrator is not following FHS and touching files outside
/usr/local, it's his problem. /usr/local and /etc is where administrator
can do his changes/improvements.
Sure there are *many* insane Python developers who suggest
"sudo easy_install Foo"[0] to their users, but then, when these users
come to me[1] all I'm proposing is to reinstall[2] their system (which you
should almost[3] never do on Debian).
[0] which installs eggs system wide (sic!)
[1] believe me, after tracking 10th problem that was caused by local
modifications, first thing you check next time is:
`grep \.egg bug_report_with_traceback`
[2] think twice before you will try to convince me you can uninstall
eggs
[3] last time I reinstalled my system was when I changed architecture,
and believe me - my system is one huge playground
--
Piotr Ożarowski Debian GNU/Linux Developer
www.ozarowski.pl www.griffith.cc www.debian.org
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