Chris Francy zoredache

Negative Python user experience on Debian/Ubuntu

The user experience of Python on a minimal Debian or Ubuntu installation is bad. Core features like virtual environments, pip bootstrapping, and the ssl module are either missing or do not work like designed and documented. Some Python core developers including me are worried and consider Debian/Ubuntu's packaging harmful for Python's reputation and branding. Users don't get what they expect.

Reproducer

The problems can be easily reproduced with official Debian and Ubuntu containers in Docker or Podman. Debian Stable (Debian 10 Buster) comes with Python 3.7.3. Ubuntu Focal (20.04 LTS) has Python 3.8.5.

Run Debian container

tmux shortcuts & cheatsheet

start new:

tmux

start new with session name:

tmux new -s myname

	---
	- hosts: localhost
	gather_facts: false
	tasks:
	- include_tasks: include_me.yml
	vars:
	include_max: 10

	#!/bin/bash
	set -euo pipefail
	set -x

	virtualenv_path=/usr/local/ansible/stable

	# Install packages needed on a base Debian system
	apt-get update
	</dev/null DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
	apt-get --yes install --no-install-recommends $(