> I think there should be one release which is not shipping > /usr/bin/python before /usr/bin/python should be reused and pointed > at python (>> 2). This should be good enough to get all scripts > actively converted which are not part of the distribution. > > If that release is buster, we should require the use of python2 > instead of python now, document that in policy and provide a lintian > check for that.
As an end-user of both Debian and Python, I do not think this timeline is realistic, and I would request the following: 1) Do not remove the base Python 2.7 interpreter (that is, the python2.7, python2.7-minimal, and python2.7-dev packages) from the distribution until the release *after* its upstream end-of-life (with the current schedule, that would be the first release in 2021). 2) Leave the full path /usr/bin/python and the bare command name 'python' referring to Python 2 and only Python 2 - no cleverness, please - until that point. 3) After Python 2 is completely removed from the distribution, the full path /usr/bin/python and the bare command name 'python' should be reserved and unused for at least ten years. zw
