Python Packages Backward Compatibility

Question

Is there an easy way to tell if a Python package will work if not matched to my Python release? For example, I cannot get PyGreSQL for Python 2.7 on Win (only 2.6) and I can't get ZODB for Win any more recent than Python 2.4. Does the version mismatch guarantee incompatibility, or do I just need to rename the package directory?

Answer 1

There's no way to tell for sure if the package will work on another Python version, but using older packages on newer Python 2.x's is much much more likely to work than the other way around.

One thing to watch out for: if you're installing a Windows kit, it may only install in the version it was meant for, due to registry look-ups and the like.