[pacman-dev] Alternatives system brainstorm

[Allan McRae]

On 19/10/19 5:56 pm, Daan van Rossum wrote:
> * on Saturday, 2019-10-19 02:30 +0200, brainpower <brainpower at mailbox.org> wrote:
> 
>> "first wins" feels more "KISS" to me, it's logic is less complex and I
>> think it has the least "surprise potential".
>> <snip>
>>
>> The only thing I'd feel strongly about some automatic choosing is, that
>> I think a manual selection should not be changed automagically.
>> <snip>
> 
> It seems even more KISS to avoid managed alternatives altogether and let the user handle them.
> 
> python2 and python3 are two different languages and any python script should be clear about what language they are written in.  A shebang of /usr/bin/python is a bug, in my view, that the OS should not try to "fix".
> 
> Currently, we offer a "python" package and a "python2" package.  Similarly for lua, we offer packages "lua", "lua52", and "lua51".  The way this behaves is clear and simple.

Yes - scripts that are python version dependent should specify what they
need.   The setting of /usr/bin/python is more for interactive use.

> I probably am overlooking a use case where managed alternatives are important.  Can someone give a good example to help the brainstorm?
> 

/bin/sh -> bash/dash
/usr/bin/awk -> gawk/nawk
/usr/bin/cc -> gcc/clang
...