[petsc-dev] Python 2.2

[Satish Balay]

Well currently there is some code in petsc-dev which is not python2.2
compatible.

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No module named platform
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Since this is petsc-dev and I think our python2.2 compatibility wrt
release should be till oct 10 [RHEL3 EOL - with python2.2 is oct-10] -
I think its ok to increase the requirement to python2.3 for petsc-dev.

But I figured I'll check first. [Fix for python 2.2 is to change to use executeShellCommand()]

thanks,
Satish


On Wed, 3 Feb 2010, Barry Smith wrote:

> 
>   We don't want to require people who use PETSc to have to go and download a
> "new" version of python just because they are using it to install PETSc. This
> means that so long as "reasonably commonly" used systems still have 2.2 we
> need to live with 2.2 limitations. Then it comes down to how do with measure
> "reasonably commonly" used systems, that is how do we determine when some
> system is no longer reasonably commonly used? I'd rather error on the side of
> not forcing people to update python then forcing them to update just so
> ./config/configure.py has slightly cleaner code.
> 
>   Note that does not mean that we should use python 2.2 for everything. For
> example, if Lisandro were to decide that PETSc4py would require 3.0 I think
> that would be completely reasonable. The difference is if python is tool the
> user is working with when they can benefit from the latest and greatest
> features vs just a tool that PETSc uses to get installed.
> 
> 
> 
>   Barry
> 
> On Feb 3, 2010, at 11:47 AM, Matthew Knepley wrote:
> 
> > So if RHEL supports it for 20 years, we should?
> > 
> >  Matt
> > 
> > On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 11:29 AM, Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> > 
> > We should keep it. The important date is not when  new feature is introduced
> > but when the packagers actually distribute it.
> > 
> >  Barry
> > 
> > On Feb 3, 2010, at 9:57 AM, Satish Balay wrote:
> > 
> > On Wed, 3 Feb 2010, Matthew Knepley wrote:
> > 
> > The last release of Python 2.2 was May 30, 2003. The fixes Satish
> > has just put in are pretty ugly. At what point do we give up on an
> > antiquated Python?
> > 
> > I think its good if we can keep configure working for a wide rane of
> > python versions [whatever the user has].
> > 
> > One timeline we can use is - RHEL/CentOS EOL dates. RHEL3/CentOS3 with
> > python2.2 is supported till Oct 31, 2010, RHEL4/CentOS4 with default
> > python2.3 is supported til Feb 29, 2012.
> > 
> > Or drop python2.2 for next release... Barry can decide...
> > 
> > Satish
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their experiments
> > is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their experiments
> > lead.
> > -- Norbert Wiener
>