bug#45655: Please use 'python3' command instead of 'python'

[Balint Reczey]

Hi Stefan,

On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 6:42 PM Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>
> > Python 2 reached EOL about a year ago thus the 'python' command may be
> > missing on some systems.
> > 'python3' is the standard way of invoking the Python 3 interpreter,
> > thus Emacs would have a better chance trying that.
>
> At least here on Debian, `python` redirects to `python3` or `python2`
> depending on some user choice (by installing either `python-is-python3`
> or `python-in-python2`).
>
> So I think it makes a lot of sense to keep using `python` rather than
> `python3`.

I don't think keeping `python` is a good idea, this would make Emacs
considered to be buggy in Debian.

Please see https://wiki.debian.org/Python :
...
NOTE: Debian testing (bullseye) has removed the "python" package and
the '/usr/bin/python' symlink due to the deprecation of Python 2. No
packaged scripts should depend on the existence of '/usr/bin/python':
if they do, that is a bug that should be reported to Debian. You can
use the 'python-is-python3' or 'python-is-python2' packages to restore
an appropriate '/usr/bin/python' symlink for third-party or legacy
scripts.
...

Cheers,
Balint

-- 
Balint Reczey
Ubuntu & Debian Developer