Another useful option which got removed is --python. It is sometimes useful to be able to check if something works in the same python that sage runs in, and it is not necessarily obvious which one that is when there are multiple versions of python installed. Even on linux it is possible to have more than one python installed. So I would urge adding that one to the entry point.
- Marc On Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 2:06:03 PM UTC-5 Michael Orlitzky wrote: > On 2025-10-01 14:23:31, David Roe wrote: > > 2. Identify the backward incompatible changes in #39030 > > <https://github.com/sagemath/sage/pull/39030> (and elsewhere, such as > #39015 > > <https://github.com/sagemath/sage/pull/39015>). At some point, the > public > > interface to the sage script consisted of the output of sage -advanced, > > which I've copied below (from 10.7). > > For some context, since no one has explained WHY there's a new script > yet. The goal was to make sage usable as a normal python package: > installable via pip, capable of being depended upon by 3rd party > packages, usable on linux distributions, etc. -- independent of the > sage distribution. > > The bash script is not suitable in any of those cases. Bash itself is > not a dependency of the sage library, and you can't require it if you > want to run on (say) Windows. The bash script relies on variables like > SAGE_ROOT to find things, but those variables don't exist outside of > the sage distribution. Most imporantly, a huge number of options refer > to things that only make sense in the sage distribution: > > * sage -b and everything related > * sage -i and everything related > * sage --python, sage --maxima, sage --gap3(!), etc. > * sage --package, sage --optional, ... > > As such, we can't just install the bash script if the user does "pip > install sagemath". But, we still need a way to actually start sage > once it's installed! The new script reimplements the critical parts in > python, and is installed by sagelib itself, so that after you install > sage by one of those other methods, you can just type "sage" and it > will work. > > None of that precludes further improvements to the python script, > though, and it might be possible to revert to the bash script for the > sage distribution. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sage-devel/460c019e-535d-4f1f-86a7-a3be2a158b8bn%40googlegroups.com.
