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

Ubuntu as an example has not shipped /usr/bin/python as Python 3 because Python 2 still can be installed.  Only when python-is-python3 is installed (not a default) it does that.

I'm against deprecation as well because I think the assumption here is wrong that 'most distributions ship python as python3'.


Thomas



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-------- Original message --------
From: Jerome Kieffer <[email protected]>
Date: 11/12/25 12:01 (GMT-05:00)
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: /usr/bin/python3 deprecation and enforcing /usr/bin/python

Hi,

I am against deprecating python3 ... it is used a bit everywhere and
every `venv` provides both python and python3.

What will occur when python4 arrives ?

Cheers,

Jerome
On Wed, 12 Nov 2025 10:49:08 -0500
Antoine Beaupré <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi!
>
> Debian has shipped Python 3 as /usr/bin/python3 for a while now. For
> some time, we've also shipped a python-is-python3 package that ships a
> symlink from /usr/bin/python to /usr/bin/python as well, but it's not
> installed by default.
>
> I'm assuming that most distributions outside of Debian, at this point,
> have shipped /usr/bin/python as Python 3 for couple of years, as far as
> I know (although I haven't surveyed that formally).
>
> 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 (?).
>
> Thoughts?
>
> A.
> --
> If ease of use was the ultimate aim for a tool,
> the bicycle would never have evolved beyond the tricycle.
>                         — Doug Engelbart, 1925-2013
>


--
Jérôme Kieffer
tel +33 476 882 445