macOS 12.3 and /usr/bin/python. Status?

[Gerben Wierda]

> On 17 Apr 2022, at 15:22, Ryan Schmidt <ryandesign at macports.org> wrote:
> 
>> I’m about to take the plunge and move one of my systems to macOS 12.3 (which removes /usr/bin/python). I am going to consider that a MacPorts major migration (so following the migration instructions).
> 
> If you are upgrading from macOS 11.x or earlier tto macOS 12.3, you should of course follow the migration instructions. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of macOS 12, there would be no benefit to performing the migration steps.

Normally, this is true. But macOS 12.3 is not backwards compatible with macOS 12.2 in a major way, because of the missing /usr/bin/python. So, if MacPorts detects a dependency which is still up to date according to MacPorts, it will not rebuild that port. Then later when that dependency gets an update it will. If at that moment you find out the dependency still requires /usr/bin/python during build, you’re stuck. You might even find this out halfway a dependency tree build, so that the dependencies of the dependency have already been rebuilt and installed and then halfway that rebuild you fail. It is a risk for the availability/continuity of your landscape and that is especially important if we’re talking about service you offer to the environment (e.g. mail server).

Of course, the same is true in case of (undeclared, e.g. not tested in the configure script) dependencies of python during run, but there is no easy way to test for this and the chance of this being the case is smaller (though solving it is nastier, I suspect)

The question I have when moving from 12.2 to 12.3 is: is there a port in my set that depends on /usr/bin/python (and should become dependent on a MacPorts python instead)? Doing the (normally unnecessary) migrations run at least will catch the dependencies during build.

Numbers do not give a definitive answer to major or minor updates. E.g. tomcat 8.2 or 8.3 are minor updates, but tomcat 8.5 was/is in fact a major update at the company I work, because it was fundamentally changes. The numbers are just a clue, not reality. See also Lifecycle Management – Let the Sunshine in <https://ea.rna.nl/2019/08/14/lifecycle-management-let-the-sunshine-in/>

Gerben Wierda (LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerbenwierda>)
R&A IT Strategy <https://ea.rna.nl/> (main site)
Book: Chess and the Art of Enterprise Architecture <https://ea.rna.nl/the-book/>
Book: Mastering ArchiMate <https://ea.rna.nl/the-book-edition-iii/>

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