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2.2.7. Python
The
python package adds support for the Python programming language. This package provides the object and cached bytecode files required to enable runtime support for basic Python programs. It also contains the python interpreter and the pydoc documentation tool. The python-devel package contains the libraries and header files required for developing Python extensions.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux also ships with numerous
python-related packages. By convention, the names of these packages have a python prefix or suffix. Such packages are either library extensions or python bindings to an existing library. For instance, dbus-python is a Python language binding for D-Bus.
Note that both cached bytecode (
*.pyc/*.pyo files) and compiled extension modules (*.so files) are incompatible between Python 2.4 (used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) and Python 2.6 (used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6). As such, you will be required to rebuild any extension modules you use that are not part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
2.2.7.1. Python Updates
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 version of Python features various language changes. For information about these changes, see the following project resources:
- What's New in Python 2.5: http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.5.html
- What's New in Python 2.6: http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.6.html
Both resources also contain advice on porting code developed using previous Python versions.
