Martin v. Löwis wrote: >> Like I said, it's possible to split Python without making things >> complicated for newbies. > > You may have that said, but I don't believe its truth. For example, > most distributions won't include Tkinter in the "standard" Python > installation: Tkinter depends on _tkinter depends on Tk depends on > X11 client libraries. Since distributors want to make X11 client > libraries optional, they exclude Tkinter. So people wonder why > they can't run Tkinter applications (search comp.lang.python for > proof that people wonder about precisely that).
comp.lang.python only represents a *very* tiny fraction of the python universe, though. I'd be much more interested in hearing from people tracking distribution-specific forums. > I don't think the current packaging tools can solve this newbie > problem. It might be solvable if installation of X11 libraries > would imply installation of Tcl, Tk, and Tkinter: people running > X (i.e. most desktop users) would see Tkinter installed, yet > it would be possible to omit Tkinter. I think this is a way too python-centric view of things. maybe we could just ask distributors to prepare a page that describes what portions of the standard distribution they do include, and in what packages they've put the various components, and link to those from the library reference and/or the wiki or FAQ? is there perhaps some machine-readable format that could be used for this? </F> _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com