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I’m a little surprised at this point that Apple still doesn’t include a default Python 3.x on macOS. It’s the single thing keeping me from moving (as there’s a

I’m a little surprised at this point that Apple still doesn’t include a default Python 3.x on macOS. It’s the single thing keeping me from moving (as there’s a big difference between “just run this” and “first download this, then run this”).

rajacombinator 9y ago
Downloading it is definitely not the biggest hurdle to moving to python 3.
- semi-extrinsic 9y ago
  I infer GP was talking about his users on OSX, who would have to download/install python3 to use the distributed software.
jimwalsh 9y ago
There are arguments against doing anything against system python installs in the first place.
meddlepal 9y ago
I used PyInstaller for the first time this week to build a single binary executable for Linux. So far in limited use the result has been great. I think I'm gonna do OS X next.
viraptor 9y ago
My theory is that this is not going to be a nice change when they drop 2.7. Maybe one version will be released with both installed by default, then they'll use only 3.7/3.8 for the next decade. MacOS doesn't seem to care a lot about backwards compatibility recently. This is of course pure speculation...
- makecheck 9y ago
  Other OSes just install a “python3” binary, I’d expect Apple to do the same.
  - viraptor 9y ago
    Sure. What I'm saying is I expect python/python2 to be gone soon after that.
    - makecheck 9y ago
      I’m not so sure; /System/Library/Frameworks links for Python versions have been stable for a very long time (which surprised me at first but I imagine Apple has plenty of stuff of their own that uses Python). Even though they’ve since hacked a lot of the older versions with symbolic links to 2.7, versions back to 2.3 have valid paths.
IshKebab 9y ago
Honestly the fact that they include a system Python 2 is a huge pain. You can't add packages to it, and you shouldn't add another Python 2 interpreter to the PATH. You end up having to use virtualenv which is a stupid hack.
- donarb 9y ago
  pip takes a --user flag that installs packages to your user's account. It's essentially global unless you have multiple users on your machine.
  - IshKebab 9y ago
    But there is no pip.
collinmanderson 9y ago
I agree, though it's not just macOS: all of the BSDs are behind on Python 3. Once FreeBSD gets Python 3 by default, I bet macOS will follow. Current FreeBSD Python 3 status: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Python https://wiki.freebsd.org/Python

rajacombinator 9y ago

Downloading it is definitely not the biggest hurdle to moving to python 3.

semi-extrinsic 9y ago
I infer GP was talking about his users on OSX, who would have to download/install python3 to use the distributed software.

jimwalsh 9y ago

There are arguments against doing anything against system python installs in the first place.

meddlepal 9y ago

I used PyInstaller for the first time this week to build a single binary executable for Linux. So far in limited use the result has been great. I think I'm gonna do OS X next.

viraptor 9y ago

My theory is that this is not going to be a nice change when they drop 2.7. Maybe one version will be released with both installed by default, then they'll use only 3.7/3.8 for the next decade. MacOS doesn't seem to care a lot about backwards compatibility recently. This is of course pure speculation...

makecheck 9y ago
Other OSes just install a “python3” binary, I’d expect Apple to do the same.
- viraptor 9y ago
  Sure. What I'm saying is I expect python/python2 to be gone soon after that.
  - makecheck 9y ago
    I’m not so sure; /System/Library/Frameworks links for Python versions have been stable for a very long time (which surprised me at first but I imagine Apple has plenty of stuff of their own that uses Python). Even though they’ve since hacked a lot of the older versions with symbolic links to 2.7, versions back to 2.3 have valid paths.

IshKebab 9y ago

Honestly the fact that they include a system Python 2 is a huge pain. You can't add packages to it, and you shouldn't add another Python 2 interpreter to the PATH. You end up having to use virtualenv which is a stupid hack.

donarb 9y ago
pip takes a --user flag that installs packages to your user's account. It's essentially global unless you have multiple users on your machine.
- IshKebab 9y ago
  But there is no pip.

collinmanderson 9y ago

I agree, though it's not just macOS: all of the BSDs are behind on Python 3. Once FreeBSD gets Python 3 by default, I bet macOS will follow. Current FreeBSD Python 3 status: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Python https://wiki.freebsd.org/Python