On 2009-03-27 20:24, s...@pobox.com wrote: > mal> Zip files are great for shipping packages to the end-user, but > mal> there's no need to keep them zipped once they get there. > > I thought one of the arguments for zip files was a performance increase > (reduced stat(2) calls, etc). I may misremember though.
True and like Fred already mentioned that's the main reason why we have ZIP file package imports. Putting the stdlib into a ZIP file does make our favorite interpreter start up faster. E.g. py2exe makes use of this feature. However, using eggs (which are ZIP files) directly on the sys.path causes these to get scanned on every startup - regardless of whether you use any of their content. Very much unlike standard Python package directories that only get scanned if they are referenced. Due to the nature of eggs (many small packages), you usually end up having a whole Easter basket full of them in your sys.path. Unless you want to maintain a separate Python installation per task, your overall Python startup time will increase noticeably for every single script you run with it. Perhaps someone should start working on a tool called "FryingPan" to create "Omelettes", ie. all eggs squashed into a single ZIP file... ;-) -- Marc-Andre Lemburg eGenix.com Professional Python Services directly from the Source (#1, Mar 27 2009) >>> Python/Zope Consulting and Support ... http://www.egenix.com/ >>> mxODBC.Zope.Database.Adapter ... http://zope.egenix.com/ >>> mxODBC, mxDateTime, mxTextTools ... http://python.egenix.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ 2009-03-19: Released mxODBC.Connect 1.0.1 http://python.egenix.com/ ::: Try our new mxODBC.Connect Python Database Interface for free ! :::: eGenix.com Software, Skills and Services GmbH Pastor-Loeh-Str.48 D-40764 Langenfeld, Germany. CEO Dipl.-Math. Marc-Andre Lemburg Registered at Amtsgericht Duesseldorf: HRB 46611 http://www.egenix.com/company/contact/ _______________________________________________ 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