[BioPython] Biopython package for Fedora

[Chris Lasher]

On 4/8/07, Alex Lancaster <alexl at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> 2) The "python setup.py install" step appears to install a lot of
>    scripts with the "#!/usr/bin/env python" at the top into the main
>    /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/Bio/ namespace, e.g.:
>
>    /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/Bio/GFF/GenericTools.py
>
>    should these scripts be installed somewhere more appropriate such
>    as /usr/bin/GenericTools.py or do they also function as classes as
>    well as executables in their own right?

The line
#!/usr/bin/env python

retrieves the appropriate Python installation as specified by the
user's defined environment. This is preferable to hard-coding
#!/usr/bin/python, which will always use the Python installation
pointed to by /usr/bin/python. For most users, this doesn't matter,
but if the user desires to use a local or custom installation of
Python, they must change all these scripts by hand to point to their
preferred Python install.

Say my distribution's Python is version 2.3 but I have installed a
local copy of version 2.5 which is symlinked at /usr/local/bin/python.
I can set /usr/local/bin/python ahead in my path and the scripts with
"#!/usr/bin/env python" will then execute with my preferred version
(2.5) of Python rather than the system version (2.3), but the scripts
with "#!/usr/bin/python" will execute with the system version (2.3)
rather than my prefered version (2.5). Web search for more details.

Chris