[jjcob]

Is Python still that bad? I remember the big problems were during the Python 2 -> Python 3 transition, but in the last few years I've managed to get away with a single Python install and haven't really had any compatibility issues.

I stick with Python.org packages for macOS, and the official Python packages on Ubuntu, and everything seems to work just fine.

[swiftcoder]

There are better tools for managing the madness, certainly. uv makes python management almost pleasant (sandboxing the whole environment by default is a wise choice).

[NetMageSCW]

That sounds like a good way to greatly increase the disk and ram required for each tool or running copy of a tool or application. Almost as bad as turning everything into an Electron app.

[swiftcoder]

You aren't wrong, but it's pretty much the only sane way to deal with an ecosystem that doesn't allow multiple versions of the same package to coexist - otherwise we're all stuck on the lowest common denominator of each configuration of packages

[me-vs-cat]

It may sound that way to you, but it doesn't have that problem for me.