Tidying up Python

[raf]

On Fri, Jul 11, 2025 at 11:04:21AM +0200, Bjarne D Mathiesen via macports-users <macports-users at lists.macports.org> wrote:

> Den 11.07.2025 kl. 10.38 skrev Ryan Carsten Schmidt:
> > 
> >> On Jul 11, 2025, at 03:27, Bjarne D Mathiesen wrote:
> >>
> >> port select --set python  python313
> >> port select --set python3 python313
> > 
> > Prefix those commands with "sudo" for normal root MacPorts installations. 
> 
> Well, I'm running under "sudo bash" under my admin account to avoid
> having to prefix every admin task w/ "sudo"
> 
> > 
> > I believe I read somewhere that the python community recommends that "python" always be python 2.x, never python 3.x. Programs that want to use python 3.x should use the program name "python3". If "port select python" currently allows versions of python 3.x to be selected, we may want to change that. 
> 
> We did do a concerted effort in getting rid of python27 in macports some
> time back. If I remember correctly, I had a major part in updating a lot
> of stuff to at least python35 at that time.
> 
> Python27 is offically dead. It was only being kept around in a comatose
> state because of a lot of stuff not having been upgraded to python3.x

It might be officially dead, but it's unofficially undead.
I know of a python2/wxPython program that still can't easily
be ported to python3 because the corresponding version of
wxPython crashes a lot, and extracting a sufficiently small
minimal example to show to the wxPython people for help is
probably not possible. Until the company that owns it can
completely replace the gui with something else, or can find
and afford developers that are able to fix it themselves,
it stays as python2.

And, although I'm sure to be in the minority, I agree with the
idea that the name python should continue to mean python2 and
that the name python3 should be used to refer to python3.
They are different/incompatible languages, and so it makes sense
for them to have different names, and the new thing should get
the new name. The old thing should get to keep its existing name.
But really it depends on whether or not you have a lot of
python2 code still used on your system, and personal preference.

But this is probably no concern of macports. Allowing each user
to make their own selections is great. Ports of python/python3
programs need to be tied to a specific version anyway that isn't
selection-dependent (e.g., #!/opt/local/bin/python3.12), so the
selection only affects non-macports programs.

> -- 
> Bjarne D Mathiesen
> Slagelse ; Danmark ; Europa

cheers,
raf

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