[Python-Dev] Python 3 as a Default in Linux Distros (original) (raw)

Laurent Gautier lgautier at gmail.com
Thu Jul 25 13:53:33 CEST 2013

On 07/25/2013 01:19 PM, Lennart Regebro wrote:

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Laurent Gautier <lgautier at gmail.com> wrote:

- a user is running a python script (he expects to be working), and is using the default /usr/bin/python (formerly Python 2, now Python 3). If the program fails because of obvious Python 2-only idioms, reporting this rather that the SyntaxError is much less confusing. 2to3 will not report this.

My meaning was the use of 2to3's machinery (and fire a message if a translation occurs) not 2to3 itself, obviously.

It will get rid of the SyntaxError (which at least is fairly clear) and give you a completely different and even more obscure error. You have replaced a somewhat unclear error with a very unclear error.

If we want to report a problem, then /usr/bin/python should just report that you should use /usr/bin/python2 or /usr/bin/python3. That's clear. //Lennart

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