Python by default on all unix systems?

Question

There was a discussion on which language to choose for a system checker. The system checker is supposed to be a script running on unix systems. On Gnu/Linux systems seem to always have it installed by default (at least Debian based, Gentoo, RH based) But what about other unix systems? Is python by default installed on all unix systems, and if not, on which ones isn't it?

Answer 1

You'll probably find it in all current Unix and Unix like releases but there is no guarantee for python to be available in all distributions.

The only general purpose language which is mandatory by the POSIX standard is a compliant shell.