[rterzi]

First, This is about RHEL 8 (Beta) not 7, 6, etc. Second `#!/usr/bin/python` is a different animal than `#!/usr/bin/env python`. One is hard coded. The other is `PATH` based so will change depending on current `PATH`.

On RHEL 7 (and earlier) `/usr/bin/python` must be the Python 2 the system shipped with or your break `yum` and other admin tools. When people try to install their own python by doing a `make install` as root, `yum` breaks and it's hard to recover the system.

What the article is saying is that RHEL 8 addresses this by having a platform python that the system tools use. So RHEL 8 tools will not use /usr/bin/python

[throwaway98434]

CoolGuySteve complained that things will break because existing scripts assume /usr/bin/python. CoolGuySteve is correct. There is an enormous amount of work involved in changing or removing the function of /usr/bin/python.

Offering advice about how to write new software does nothing to help with the frustration he highlighted: His existing build systems will break. Build systems are especially frustrating as they tend to have hacked-together code that no one really wants to look at.

People will often work around this by installing a python2 as /usr/bin/python. At the end of the day this change results in a less predictable platform. On previous RHEL systems I know what /usr/bin/foo is -- it's predictable given the major version of the distro. But now I won't know what /usr/bin/python is on RHEL8. It will be uniquely different and that's not a good thing.