this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You can have both python 2 and 3 on the system. It just depends upon which is the default as to how much you break it 👍 The symlink to
/usr/bin/python
is the important bit for most software. For deb-based at least, update-alternative is your friend.I'll happily say I must have overlooked something, but I did try using update-alternatives. I don't remember all the nuts and bolts from the start, but it involves python3 and distribution upgrades. I spent a good number of nights over the years trying to unmess it up, and am happy to never think about it ever again.
There was definitely a time when python3 was not recommended and plenty of scripts weren't yet differentiating between the two. Everything was breaking back then.