2008/10/10 Ian Bicking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Paul Moore wrote: >> >> My feeling, by the way, is that "system packagers" are the more >> relevant group on Linux/Unix (where most users install Python modules >> via system packages, or else they are developers) > > I think this is part of why I don't understand the system packager > perspective. Developers shouldn't use system packages, it just doesn't make > any sense to have that intermediation. Users don't use Python modules, they > use applications. Users only care that their applications work, that they > can install applications without unnecessary conflicts, that the > applications don't break based on unintentional environment changes (e.g., > the value of PYTHONPATH).
Interesting viewpoint (from my Windows developer/user POV :-)) >From my point of view, as a Windows developer, I want to use "system packages" (bdist_wininst installers) because then I get the benefits of having a listing of what I have installed, being able to quickly, easily and cleanly install and uninstall packages to "try them out" etc. I have the same environment for my one-off scripts as for my development environment, which again I feel is good as I'm using a consistent, familiar, toolset. As a user, I want my applications packaged with py2exe, and independent of the "system Python" - which for me is the development environment, and therefore not stable enough to rely on for apps! And as a developer, py2exe cleanly picks out those bits of my development environment which are needed in the delivered application, so I don't have to worry about installing "too much" before I package my application up. This probably reflects the fact that per-user, or any other sort of private, installations of Python, are the exception rather than the norm on Windows, whereas on Unix, building a custom Python to do your development with (either from scratch, or with things like virtualenv) is easy and sensible. I guess the more we see how "the other half" lives (without the flamewars :-)), the better we'll be able to compromise or provide options to help everyone. (Skipped the comments on system packaging, as you've confirmed what I thought, which is that it's very much a Unix phenomenon, and I'm not qualified to have an opinion...) Paul. _______________________________________________ Distutils-SIG maillist - Distutils-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/distutils-sig