[Python-Dev] 2to3 porting HOWTO: setup.py question

Sun Jul 22 15:08:48 CEST 2012

On 2012年7月22日 11:21:38 +0300, anatoly techtonik <techtonik at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://docs.python.org/py3k/howto/pyporting.html#during-installation
>> What's the point in making implicit Python 3 check here:
> try: # Python 3
> from distutils.command.build_py import build_py_2to3 as build_py
> except ImportError: # Python 2
> from distutils.command.build_py import build_py
>> instead of explicit check like:
> import sys
> if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
> from distutils.command.build_py import build_py_2to3 as build_py

It's called testing for the thing that actually matters, rather than
testing a constant with a much broader meaning. Yes, in this case the
results are the same, but IMO it is better programming practice to test
the thing that actually matters when you can.
--David