Paul> .... We all know that the Python language has issues (or "warts" Paul> as they are popularly called), although some of the most notable Paul> ones don't seem to have been addressed as yet in the plans for Paul> Python 3000 (eg. default argument evaluation), but some of the Paul> most awkward aspects of using Python involve libraries, not some Paul> deficiency of the language....
I think EasyInstall might have some role to play in improving the library status quo. Consider the cgi module. It was originally written in probably 1995 or earlier and for a long time was the only game in town. Consequently, lots of applications used it. Times have changed though and there's a whole new alphabet soup of web application frameworks available. I installed Pylons the other day with "easy_install pylons". No fuss, no muss. Over time (maybe in Python 3) modules like cgi, which arguably no longer belong in the core can be maintained externally and installed only when needed. Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list