Is it safe to replace MacOS X default Python interpreter?

I have the default Python 2.6.1 installed as /usr/bin/python and Python 3.1.2 installed in /usr/local/bin/python3.1. Considering that I use only 3.x syntax, is it safe to replace the de开发者_开发技巧fault interpreter (2.6) with the 3.1 one (python-config included) using symlinks (and removing old Python binary)? Or is the system relying on the 2.x version for some purpose I don't know?

If you're only using Python 3, start your scripts with:

#! /usr/bin/env python3.1

And you'll be using the right version, without doinking the system about.

edit: BTW this idea is suggested by the Python docs. Each script will be running the version of Python they depend on. Since Python 3 is not backward compatible, it seems dangerous to be replacing the Python executable with one that will break scripts other utilities may rely on.

You can not safely replace the system supplied python. I cannot find a Mac-specific reference for you... but some recent Python versions are not backwards compatible... Many scripts made dependent on an older version of Python will not run on an upgraded python. OS X Comes with Python pre-installed because it has dependencies on it.

Try using VirtualEnv instead.

Update: Just came across python-select from macports which may solve your problem.

Don't replace / remove any binaries unless you are in dire need for storage. In that case too, the mileage is very little in removing them.

You can simply make 3.1 as default with :

defaults write com.apple.versioner.python Version 3.1

There are other ways to ensure that you use 3.1 by default, I have not used them though.

export VERSIONER_PYTHON_VERSION=3.1