From 9b6b596a5ad7077f7a09661c8df7140674d007b0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tyler Yankee <tyler.yankee@kitware.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:34:54 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] [wheel] Remove pythonX.Y symlink indirection on macOS

The `python` spelling is needed for `install-wheel.sh` and
`test-wheel.sh` to be reusable across the Linux and macOS builders, but
it being a symlink pointing to `pythonX.Y` (the directory where the
venv lives) is unnecessary. `provision-build.sh` already creates a
unique test root each time a wheel is tested (via
`macos/provision-test-python.sh`).

The broader motivation for the change is to remove confusion around
the uniqueness of the test root and Python virtual environment ahead of
a future commit to support testing a single wheel with multiple Python
versions.

Co-authored-by: Matthew Woehlke <matthew.woehlke@kitware.com>
---
 tools/wheel/macos/provision-test-python.sh | 2 +-
 tools/wheel/wheel_builder/macos.py         | 9 +--------
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/wheel/macos/provision-test-python.sh b/tools/wheel/macos/provision-test-python.sh
index e311b8de4b86..1a9cbaebf904 100755
--- a/tools/wheel/macos/provision-test-python.sh
+++ b/tools/wheel/macos/provision-test-python.sh
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ fi
 
 # NOTE: Xcode ships python3, make sure to use the one from brew.
 $(brew --prefix python@$1)/bin/python$1 \
-    -m venv /tmp/drake-wheel-test/python$1
+    -m venv /tmp/drake-wheel-test/python
diff --git a/tools/wheel/wheel_builder/macos.py b/tools/wheel/wheel_builder/macos.py
index 17c43c67c878..4781b751ed07 100644
--- a/tools/wheel/wheel_builder/macos.py
+++ b/tools/wheel/wheel_builder/macos.py
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ def _test_wheel(wheel, target, env):
     """
     Runs the test script on `wheel`.
     """
+    # Set up the environment.
     setup_script = os.path.join(
         resource_root, "macos", "provision-test-python.sh"
     )
@@ -91,12 +92,6 @@ def _test_wheel(wheel, target, env):
         ["bash", setup_script, target.python.version], env=env
     )
 
-    test_python_venv = os.path.join(test_root, "python")
-    os.symlink(
-        os.path.join(test_root, f"python{target.python.version}"),
-        test_python_venv,
-    )
-
     # Install the wheel.
     install_script = os.path.join(resource_root, "test", "install-wheel.sh")
     subprocess.check_call(["bash", install_script, wheel], env=env)
@@ -108,8 +103,6 @@ def _test_wheel(wheel, target, env):
         subprocess.check_call(["bash", test_script, test, wheel], env=env)
         print(f"-- Executing test {test} - PASSED")
 
-    os.unlink(test_python_venv)
-
 
 def build(options):
     """