Re: [python-control-discuss] Python controls lib - preferred python version?

[Richard M. <mu...@cd...>]

It would be good if the package itself ran on as many versions of pythons as we can easily support.  The CDS cluster is running python 2.4 (about 2 years out of date).  I've got python 2.5.4 and 2.6.1 (via OS X) as well as python 2.6.5 (via fink) on my Mac.  By default, I've been running 2.6.1 for all of my testing.

There is some advantage to running different version of python since that will help us keep compatibility across multiple flavors.  For what we are doing, I don't think there should be anything version specific that comes up.  As you've probably found, it's mainly just a matter of getting a version of ipython up an running.  This is not quite as easy as it should be, unfortunately...

FWIW, I used fink for my ipython and scipy installs.  Even then, I had to turn on the unstable distribution.

-richard

On 4 Jun 2010, at 17:35 , Tony Vanelli wrote:

> Richard, 
> 
> After a fair bit of wrestling with the fact that various ramifications of OS X *also* having a older version of Python than what I had downloaded and installed, I've gotten the the Python Control Library v.0.3b to execute the 2nd order test-case.  (Not as far as I wanted to get, but it's a start...)  
> 
> But my experience of dealing with different Python versions (described below) on OS X has raised a question:
> 
> Do you have a preferred version of Python you'd like us to use? 
> 
> OS X 10.6 comes bundled Python 2.6.1; I've installed Python 2.6.5 (latest non-developmental release).  I recall Erik mentioned he'd installed Py2.7 in an earlier email.
> 
> Erik: If you've installed Py2.7 and not tried running the 2nd-order example case yet, then you might be about to run into the same issues I smacked into.  It turns out that various "default" packages (and tools) that either come with Python 2.6.1, or that Apple pre-builds for you, are *not* included in the Python 2.6.4+ distros available from python.org, and some these packages have to be installed by hand.
> 
> iPython, it turns out, needs a little extra care.  My first installation apparently "locked on" to the Apple Python distro rather than the one I installed.  A simple first check is to run iPython (no arguments) and see which version of Python you *really* get... see excerpt below; note different boldfaced version numbers.
> 
> I've got things cobbled together now, but I'm going to spend a little time ensuring it's clean.  If you hit a snag, I (fairly soon) should have some tips I can offer.  
> 
> -tv
>  
> 43 acheron: /Users/tonyv> ipython
> Python 2.6.1 (r261:67515, Feb 11 2010, 00:51:29) 
> Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> 
> IPython 0.10 -- An enhanced Interactive Python.
> ?         -> Introduction and overview of IPython's features.
> %quickref -> Quick reference.
> help      -> Python's own help system.
> object?   -> Details about 'object'. ?object also works, ?? prints more.
> 
> In [1]: quit()
> Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)? y
> 
> 44 acheron: /Users/tonyv> python
> Python 2.6.5 (r265:79359, Mar 24 2010, 01:32:55) 
> [GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)] on darwin
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> quit()
> 45 acheron: /Users/tonyv> 
> 
> 
> 
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