Switching main Python versions in FreeBSD

In my infinite (and possibly questionable) wisdom, I usually lock down various software to particular versions. This time I wanted to change the main Python from version 2.7 to version 3.6 on the FreeBSD builder at ${WORK}.

In other words, in /etc/make.conf and in /usr/local/etc/synth/LiveSystem-make.conf, the first of these 3 lines

DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python=2.7
DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python2=2.7
DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python3=3.6

was changed to this

DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python=3.6
DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python2=2.7
DEFAULT_VERSIONS+=python3=3.6

So far, so good,

Trouble arose when py27-setuptools-41.2.0 and py36-setuptools-41.2.0 both claimed ownership of the /usr/local/bin/easy_install symlink.

pkg-static: py36-setuptools-41.2.0 conflicts with py27-setuptools-41.2.0 (installs files into the same place).  Problematic file: /usr/local/bin/easy_install

Comparing against the files on my new laptop (a blog post on that might appear), I noticed the /usr/local/bin/easy_install symlink appears only in py36-setuptools-41.2.0 and not in py27-setuptools-41.2.0, and both packages are installed without any conflict.

I took a guess and figured I simply had to delete py27-setuptools-41.2.0.txz from the builder’s package repository and rerun synth(1).

My hunch was right. The world can continue spinning.