[Mesa-dev] glretrace

[tom fogal]

Jose Fonseca <jfonseca at vmware.com> writes:
> I can remove python2.6 dependency as you suggest, but although this
> new string formatting method is seldom used it actually makes the
> code much more readable and I was hoping to spread its use, so I'd
> like you to try one thing first before giving it up:

I agree that it's a *lot* prettier than the old-style % (a) formatters!

> I don't know which Debian release you have, but Debian has been
> shipping a python2.6 for a long time.

Only in unstable && testing.  Stable is still running 2.5:

  http://packages.debian.org/stable/python/python

> If you install it and pull the latest apitrace code from git [. .
> .] then it should pickup the /usr/bin/python2.6 interpreter binary
> instead of the /usr/bin/python, therefore not failing.

I don't have a /usr/bin/python2.6, as you might guess from the above.

> Does this work for you? You may need to remove the CMakeCache.txt
> file first.

Nah, no 2.6 so of course it can't find it.  I was surprised that the
aforementioned CMake macro didn't cause an error to pop up though; I
would've expected configuration to fail because my python isn't up to
snuff, but it doesn't appear to notice.

This was really a question of "is it worth it to support 2.5?"  I can
say that it looks like it will be a moot issue for Debian "soon":

  http://www.debian.org/News/2010/20101116b

I don't know about other distros... but I do know that Debian's been
far too long without a stable =(. So maybe the solution here is just,
"use a system with a python from the last couple years".

-tom