never use os.system. os.system is a hack.
Subprocess is a bit verbose to use, though... A wrapper would be nice.
I wasn't recommending os.system() ever, OP used it in the example. Subprocess is better, as you said. I think the sh module is better than Subprocess as well.
Since python3.6 it's just subprocess.run(). The SP module was refactored. I hope that eliminates the need for all these annoying (IMHO) wrappers.
Ah, that's nice!
... unfortunately, I'm stuck with python2.4 or 2.6 on most machines my Python code has to run on. :/
> I'm stuck with python2.4 or 2.6
Not even 2.7?! 2.6 hasn't had a security update since 2013[0], I dread to think how old 2.4 is.
Python2.4 is what RHEL/CentOS 5 has to work with... And the extended support for that bloody release lasts till 2021.
You can install a newer version, but our CentOS 5 machines are meant for compatibility tests, so modifying their setup is unacceptable.
Have you tried using the scl repos from RedHat/CentOS? I use it at work yo enable different versions of Python at a system level if I am unable to muck with it because of yum.
I believe they are available for CentOS 5.x?
https://amoffat.github.io/sh/