Python 3 Distro Defaults
Discussions center on whether Python 3 is installed by default on Linux distributions, macOS, and other systems versus Python 2, reasons for sticking with older versions to avoid breaking system scripts, and methods like pyenv for managing versions.
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Isn't Python 3 installed by default on most distros, as well as Python 2?
But python is already installed on most linux systems
Neither - Python 3 will not be included out of the box, either.
Is pyenv and the Python 3 it wants to use in official/supported packages? If not, it doesn't exist for many IT departments in such cases.
Python 2 and python 3 are not the same language. There are big breaking changes between them. Most distros kept "python" pointing at python 2 to avoid breaking old scripts. If you want Python 3, you have to ask for it.
Some Linux distros don’t have the latest Python versions in their package repos, but there are definitely other ways to install versions side-by-side.
Given that many popular distros still have Python 2.7 or older as their default, this seems unwise.
Wanted to use Python 3 for some processing but the Sysadmin said that only Python 2 was available for that distributions version and "didn't want to frankenstein the box"
Making /usr/bin/python point to Python 3 doesn't sound very vanilla to me.
Why isn't Ubuntu shipping it as the default python?