ANN: ActivePython 2.6.6.18 is now available

[Sridhar Ratnakumar]

ActiveState is pleased to announce ActivePython 2.6.6.18, a complete,
ready-to-install binary distribution of Python 2.6. Among other updates,
this releases brings "postinstall" support to PyPM to facilitate
installation of modules such as PyIMSL.

http://www.activestate.com/activepython/downloads

What's New in ActivePython-2.6.6.18
===================================

New Features & Upgrades
-----------------------

- Upgrade to Tcl/Tk 8.5.9 (`changes <http://wiki.tcl.tk/26961>`_)
- Security upgrade to openssl-0.9.8q
- [MacOSX] Tkinter now requires ActiveTcl 8.5 64-bit (not Apple's Tcl/Tk
8.5 on OSX)
- Upgrade to PyPM 1.3.0:

- Programmatic use via ``pypm.cmd(['install', 'foo'])``
- Support for postinstall and conditional user-notes

- Package updates:

- pip-0.8.2


Noteworthy Changes & Bug Fixes
------------------------------

- [Windows 64-bit] `issue8275 <http://bugs.python.org/issue8275>`_: turn
off optimization for the ctypes module
- PyPM bug fixes:

- Fix needless truncation of output when piping (eg: ``pypm list |
less``)
- Respect download cache of ``*.pypm`` packages (don't redownload)
- Bug #88882: Fix pickle incompatability (sqlite) on Python 3.x



What is ActivePython?
=====================

ActivePython is ActiveState's binary distribution of Python. Builds for
Windows, Mac OS X, Linux are made freely available. Solaris, HP-UX and
AIX builds, and access to older versions are available in ActivePython
Business, Enterprise and OEM editions:

http://www.activestate.com/python

ActivePython includes the Python core and the many core extensions: zlib
and bzip2 for data compression, the Berkeley DB (bsddb) and SQLite
(sqlite3) database libraries, OpenSSL bindings for HTTPS support, the
Tix GUI widgets for Tkinter, ElementTree for XML processing, ctypes (on
supported platforms) for low-level library access, and others. The
Windows distribution ships with PyWin32 -- a suite of Windows tools
developed by Mark Hammond, including bindings to the Win32 API and
Windows COM.

ActivePython also includes a binary package manager for Python (PyPM)
that can be used to install packages much easily. For example:

C:\>pypm install mysql-python
[...]

C:\>python
See this page for full details:

http://docs.activestate.com/activepython/2.6/whatsincluded.html

As well, ActivePython ships with a wealth of documentation for both new
and experienced Python programmers. In addition to the core Python docs,
ActivePython includes the "What's New in Python" series, "Dive into
Python", the Python FAQs & HOWTOs, and the Python Enhancement Proposals
(PEPs).

An online version of the docs can be found here:

http://docs.activestate.com/activepython/2.6/

We would welcome any and all feedback to:

(e-mail address removed)

Please file bugs against ActivePython at:

http://bugs.activestate.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=ActivePython

Supported Platforms
===================

ActivePython is available for the following platforms:

- Windows (x86 and x64)
- Mac OS X (x86 and x86_64; 10.5+)
- Linux (x86 and x86_64)

- Solaris/SPARC (32-bit and 64-bit) (Business, Enterprise or OEM edition
only)
- Solaris/x86 (32-bit) (Business, Enterprise or OEM edition
only)
- HP-UX/PA-RISC (32-bit) (Business, Enterprise or OEM edition
only)
- HP-UX/IA-64 (32-bit and 64-bit) (Enterprise or OEM edition only)
- AIX/PowerPC (32-bit and 64-bit) (Business, Enterprise or OEM edition
only)

More information about the Business Edition can be found here:

http://www.activestate.com/business-edition

Custom builds are available in the Enterprise Edition:

http://www.activestate.com/enterprise-edition

Thanks, and enjoy!

The Python Team