[PATCH] doc: Various fixes to makedocbook for python3.8

[Ken Brown]

On 8/24/2020 6:31 AM, Marco Atzeri via Cygwin-apps wrote:
> On 24.08.2020 12:02, Corinna Vinschen via Newlib wrote:
>> On Aug 23 16:49, Brian Inglis wrote:
>>> On 2020-08-23 13:41, Jon Turney wrote:
>>>> On 23/08/2020 16:23, Ken Brown wrote:
>>>>> On 8/22/2020 2:45 PM, Jon Turney wrote:
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>    newlib/doc/makedocbook.py | 8 +++++---
>>>>>>    1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> diff --git a/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py b/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
>>>>>> index 92d0f279d..3fab26f1a 100755
>>>>>> --- a/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
>>>>>> +++ b/newlib/doc/makedocbook.py
>>>> [...]
>>>>> Would it make sense to also change the shebang line so that makedocbook.py
>>>>> uses python3?  Currently the build of Cygwin on Fedora uses python3, but the
>>>>> build of Cygwin on Cygwin uses python2.  This is of no great importance, but a
>>>>> recent IRC discussion shows that it can be confusing.
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I guess that would make some sense, given that python2 is now EOL.
>>>>
>>>> Otoh, making it gratuitously not work with python2 seems a bit harsh.
>>>>
>>>> On the gripping hand, reading PEP 0394, I see it doesn't actually require that
>>>> 'python' exist at all, so I guess changing the shebang as you suggest is the
>>>> right thing to do.
>>>
>>> Is it not perhaps time to switch python from EOL python2 to python3, as there
>>> are only 183 python2, 125 python27 to 199 python3, 129 python37 packages.
>>
>> This discussion actually belongs on cygwin-apps, not on newlib ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Corinna
>>
> 
> follow up from newlib
> 
> python2 will be dead end of 2020.
> https://python3statement.org/
> 
> 
> most of python2 and python3 packages are obsolete placeholders,
> currently python3 points to python3.6 or python3.8, but I am seriously
> considering to use alternatives to cover also python37 as already
> done for sphinx and to prepare for the next python3.9.
> 
> python38 has already 85 packages and I am working on another dozen,
> if you need some specific package, let me know.
> 
> Following the
> https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Distributors may choose to set the behavior of the python command as follows:
> 
>        -  python2,
>        -  python3,
>        -  not provide python command,
>        -  allow python to be configurable by an end user
>           or a system administrator.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>   we are currently setting python as python2=python2.7
> 
> Question before I update the three python3.x
> 
> - should I leave python as it is, or change to one of the
>    other settings ?
> 
> Any preference ? For the last option I will use alternatives

I think it's time to make python point to python3.  I suggest setting

   /usr/bin/python -> python3

and then using alternatives to make /usr/bin/python3 resolve to a python3.x.exe.

Ken