minimum python version for test suite?

[Simo Sorce]

On Tue, 2009-02-10 at 22:05 -0500, Tom Yu wrote:
> We are considering using Python in some portions of our test suite.
> It appears that some operating systems ship with 2.5, but some
> slightly older ones ship with 2.3.  Apparently certain desirable
> language features are available on 2.5 that are not available on 2.3.
> 
> If you are inclined to run our test suite, what versions of Python do
> you find to be readily available on their operating systems of choice?
> Do you find that installing a version of Python that is newer than the
> OS-provided version to be problematic?  What do you consider to be a
> reasonable minimum required version of Python for our test suite?

I think it depends on what about the tests are related to.
If their main aim is to verify regressions at development time you can
certainly be a little bit more aggressive and shoot for 2.5 (or even
2.6).
If the aim is to have automated test running as part of the build
process to validate the bits then trying to be conservative will help
quite a lot given build systems often rely on what is supported in the
current OS you are building on and adding different software is cause of
concern as it may invalidate other assumptions of the build system.

Simo.

-- 
Simo Sorce * Red Hat, Inc * New York