[Python-Dev] [Pydotorg] Should we help pythonmac.org? (original) (raw)

Bill Janssen janssen at parc.com
Tue Aug 19 19:13:53 CEST 2008

I've certainly heard many tales of Mac users coming to grief because they decided to overwrite their system Python, or tried to be clever and run multiple interpreters (which is usually somewhat less disastrous).

I guess this underlines the fact that Apple don't really want the hoi polloi tinkering with their systems; it's somewhat tedious when code is released for later Python versions and you have to privately backport, though, isn't it?

I build lots of different versions of Python on my Macs, and it all works fine. I think people run into trouble when they try to "replace" the system Python, in one way or another, for general use. But if you want to bundle a different Python version in an app, or in a framework-private bundle, it seems to be fine.

There have been hints dropped that if the 2.6 release hits its deadline it will be incorporated into vendor builds. Let's hope one of them is MacOS, then at least it'll be relatively up to date.

Hah! After spending years with Python 2.3 (for OS X 10.4), 2.5.1 is a breath of fresh air.

Bill

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