Groups > linux.debian.maint.python > #17146

Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python

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From	Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.maint.python
Subject	Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python
Date	Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:50:01 +0100
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On 11/12/25 17:39, Jeremy Stanley wrote:
> On 2025-11-12 10:49:08 -0500 (-0500), Antoine Beaupré wrote:
> [...]
>> I've been wondering whether it's time we finally make this change. 
>> Concretely, I think it means:
>>
>> 1. deprecating /usr/bin/python3
>> 2. shipping Python 3 as /usr/bin/python directly
>>
>> I think we should do this for Debian 14 (forky), and stop shipping 
>> python3 altogether in Debian 15 (?).
> [...]
> 
> I can understand the need for #2, but I don't see why you'd ever do #1. 
> For that matter, the python3 link is still included by upstream Cpython 
> when doing a `make install` or in a stdlib-created venv. Lots of user- 
> written scripts use python3 in their shebangs. It's not harming anything 
> simply by existing, so why deprecate something that can't/shouldn't be 
> removed?

I also don't see the need for #1, but how much of a problem is #1? Or, 
as mentioned on irc, is that an ansible only issue?

Please note, that we still have the python-is-python3 package, which 
currently is ok to use, the package description says:

  No packages may declare dependencies on this package.

So you can use it in autopkg test triggers and build dependencies.

Shipping the /usr/bin/python symlink in an existing package will make it 
much more difficult to get rid off it later again.

Matthias

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Thread

/usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Antoine Beaupré <anarcat@debian.org> - 2025-11-12 17:00 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Santiago Vila <sanvila@debian.org> - 2025-11-12 17:20 +0100
    Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org> - 2025-11-12 18:40 +0100
      Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Santiago Vila <sanvila@debian.org> - 2025-11-12 19:00 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Jerome Kieffer <Jerome.Kieffer@esrf.fr> - 2025-11-12 18:10 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org> - 2025-11-12 18:30 +0100
    Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Matthias Klose <doko@debian.org> - 2025-11-12 18:50 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Andrey Rakhmatullin <wrar@debian.org> - 2025-11-13 17:30 +0100
    Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Alexandre Detiste <alexandre.detiste@gmail.com> - 2025-11-13 22:20 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Michael Kesper <michael@familie-kesper.de> - 2025-11-14 18:00 +0100
    Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Michael Kesper <michael@familie-kesper.de> - 2025-11-14 18:50 +0100
      Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Alexandru Mihail <alexandru.mihail2897@gmail.com> - 2025-11-14 20:10 +0100
  Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python Stefano Rivera <stefanor@debian.org> - 2025-11-14 19:00 +0100

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