Potential Conflicts by Installing Two Versions of Python (Windows)?

[W. eWatson]

I suspect that if one installs v2.4 and 2.5, or any two versions, that
one will dominate, or there will be a conflict. I suppose it would not
be possible to choose which one should be used. Comments?

 

[alex23]

I suspect that if one installs v2.4 and 2.5, or any two versions, that
one will dominate, or there will be a conflict.  I suppose it would not
be possible to choose which one should be used. Comments?

I suspect that you're not the first person to ask this question. I
suppose it would not be possible to search the group and find previous
advice given on this subject.

http://u.nu/4ape4

Is phrasing it as an implicit shortcoming of Python supposed to spur
others to comment? Perhaps that's the problem you're having searching:
try keywords that represent what you're looking for, not what you're
naively expecting.

 

[Benjamin Kaplan]

The convention (more used among Unix variants but I guess the same
thing applies to Windows if you're setting the system path) is that
running "python" from the command line will give you the most recently
installed one. If you want to specify a version, it would be
"python24" or "python25". Each version of Python is installed in it's
own directory and maintains its own path so there aren't any problems
with stdlib conflicts.

As far as Windows file associations go, I suppose the most recent
install would dominate though you could always reset the associations
yourself.

 

[Benjamin Kaplan]

I suspect that if one installs v2.4 and 2.5, or any two versions, that one
will dominate, or there will be a conflict.  I suppose it would not be
possible to choose which one should be used. Comments?

The convention (more used among Unix variants but I guess the same
thing applies to Windows if you're setting the system path) is that
running "python" from the command line will give you the most recently
installed one. If you want to specify a version, it would be
"python24" or "python25". Each version of Python is installed in it's
own directory and maintains its own path so there aren't any problems
with stdlib conflicts.

As far as Windows file associations go, I suppose the most recent
install would dominate though you could always reset the associations
yourself.

 

[Terry Reedy]

As far as Windows file associations go, I suppose the most recent
install would dominate though you could always reset the associations
yourself.

The Windows installer asks whether one wants the about-to-be-installed
version to capture the associations or not.

 

[Nobody]

I suspect that if one installs v2.4 and 2.5, or any two versions, that
one will dominate, or there will be a conflict. I suppose it would not
be possible to choose which one should be used. Comments?

The only inherent conflict is that you can only associate the .py
extension with one version for any particular user.

This only matters if you need to be able to run Python files as if they
were executables, e.g. by double-clicking them in Explorer. If you invoke
Python files by explicitly specifying the Python interpreter, there isn't
a problem.