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Any new project will very, very likely be using Python3. It appears like that applies to meson. `python3` is the expected binary (`python` is still expected t

by pfranz 8y ago

Any new project will very, very likely be using Python3. It appears like that applies to meson. `python3` is the expected binary (`python` is still expected to point to Python 2 for the foreseeable future and `python2` being the explicit binary--some distros have jumped the gun on `python`). Similarly, they have completely different accompanies executables (pip3, wheel3, pydoc3) and completely separate library paths. What sort of compatibility issues have you seen? The requirements say Python 3.5 or newer. That was released in 2015. Outside of major versions, Python has generally been forwards compatible (especially if you're testing). After more than a decade of use, the only grumbles with supporting old Python version is not getting to use new features (or working around fixed bugs). I say this as someone who still uses Python 2 every day.

NikkiA 8y ago
The sooner debian kills the python = python2 association and python3 becomes the default provider of 'python' the better, I think I read that it's scheduled for this year finally.
- pfranz 8y ago
  I don't blame the OS guys. Python has been around for 30 years and many distros built a lot of their utilities around Python 2. Getting rid of Python 2 sounds like a Herculean effort that could only start after Python 3 settled down and required libraries were ported over (or replacement libraries written using more modern conventions). I'm glad we seem to be past the big inflection point and hope to put Python 2 behind us. But I can see never changing `python` from Python 2 (just not have one when Python 2 isn't installed).
lasagnaphil 8y ago
On the contrary, Arch Linux has ‘python’ as Python 3 and ‘python2’ as Python 2. Although most of the Linux users are on Ubuntu, you can’t ignore those other distributions.
- pfranz 8y ago
  Arch was what I had in mind as an OS that jumped the gun against the advice of the Python devs (at least that's a simplified history). I thought there was another distro, but I wasn't sure if they had rolled that back. To the point of the comment thread, that would only be an issue if you're maintaining a Python 2 codebase and using modern Arch. If you're creating a Python 3 codebase you're likely calling `python3` and even calling `python` isn't a problem for you.

by pfranz 8y ago

NikkiA 8y ago

The sooner debian kills the python = python2 association and python3 becomes the default provider of 'python' the better, I think I read that it's scheduled for this year finally.

pfranz 8y ago
I don't blame the OS guys. Python has been around for 30 years and many distros built a lot of their utilities around Python 2. Getting rid of Python 2 sounds like a Herculean effort that could only start after Python 3 settled down and required libraries were ported over (or replacement libraries written using more modern conventions). I'm glad we seem to be past the big inflection point and hope to put Python 2 behind us. But I can see never changing `python` from Python 2 (just not have one when Python 2 isn't installed).

lasagnaphil 8y ago

On the contrary, Arch Linux has ‘python’ as Python 3 and ‘python2’ as Python 2. Although most of the Linux users are on Ubuntu, you can’t ignore those other distributions.

pfranz 8y ago
Arch was what I had in mind as an OS that jumped the gun against the advice of the Python devs (at least that's a simplified history). I thought there was another distro, but I wasn't sure if they had rolled that back. To the point of the comment thread, that would only be an issue if you're maintaining a Python 2 codebase and using modern Arch. If you're creating a Python 3 codebase you're likely calling `python3` and even calling `python` isn't a problem for you.