Re: installing python 2 and python 3 in the same profile

[Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net>]

On 14/03/2018 12:39, Hartmut Goebel wrote:
> Am 13.03.2018 um 22:52 schrieb Ludovic Courtès:
>>    2. Use different package names when we know things can be
>>       parallel-installed: “python2” vs. “python” (I’m talking about the
>>       package name, not its version string.)  That’s what distros usually
>>       do, and I think it’s good enough.
> 
> I'd prefer this.

That sounds like a good basis. But perhaps "python" for Python 2 and 
"python3" for Python 3 would make more sense, since those are the names 
of the executables.

This does of course raise the question of how this will evolve in the 
long run, but since so many bad decisions were already taken, I am not 
trying to guess what will happen. For now, the upstream recommendation 
remains to use "python" and "python3" to distinguish the executables. 
But what will happen in 2020? The Python community might be tempted to 
change the naming to mark the end of Python 2 support, but that would be 
at the price of another round of breaking everybody's scripts.

Konrad.