[gentoo-user] Re: Why exactly am I supposed to install Python 3?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2009-12-07, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
> On Monday 07 December 2009 22:24:14 Grant Edwards wrote:
>> My most recent update displayed the following messages from
>> Python 2.6.4 and Python 2.4.6:
>>
>>   "It is highly recommended to additionally install Python 3,"
>>
>> Why is it highly recommended?  I use a lot of modules that
>> aren't support by Python 3, and AFAICT few of the system
>> applications will even work with Python 3.  So why is
>> installing it "highly recommended"?
>
> Because that's the python ebuild maintainer's opinion.
> Python-3 is new! shiny! and he likely thinks it's cool.

Here's the entire message:

  It is highly recommended to additionally install Python 3,
  but without configuring Python wrapper to use Python 3.

After puzzling over it for while, I think maybe it's supposed
to mean:

  If you want to install/use Python 3 it is highly recommended
  that you do not configure Python wrapper to use Python 3.

> There is no good reason to follow this advice just yet, as you
> rightly note very little (if anything) *requires* python-3 at
> this juncture.
>
> The only benefit, which is questionable, is that python-3 is
> where its at development-wise, and maybe perhaps the 2* series
> will become unmaintained (shades of KDE-3). But I suspect that
> day is still far off.

That's _years_ away.  The 2.x series is still being actively
developed and maintained.  AFAICT, there are still a lot of
modules and programs that don't work with Python 3.  I wouldn't
expect people working on "production" code to move away from
2.x for a long time.

Quoting from the page on Python 2.7 (released today):

  Python 2.7 is scheduled to be the last major version in the
  2.x series before it moves into 5 years of bugfix-only mode.

So there's at least 5 years of life left in the 2.x series.  

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! I am covered with
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