[Distutils] Improving distutils' script and GUI app handling

[Robert Kern]

Kevin Dangoor wrote:
> On 9/15/05, Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:
> 
>>As for Mac OS, I have almost no experience with it, so I'm not sure what
>>GUI applications there need.  Does everything need py2app?  If you have a
>>wx-based app, would you just make a #! script?  Bob Ippolito previously
>>mentioned that you don't "install" applications there, that people just
>>drag applications wherever they want them rather than using shortcuts, so
>>at least that part isn't a problem.  :)
> 
> GUI apps on the Mac need py2app.

It depends. wx-based programs don't have a technical need to be in a
.app bundle. They will run fine from the command line. Now, the *user*
might want it packaged in a .app bundle, and we as developers might need
to respond to that desire.

I think that PyObjC apps might actually need to be in a .app bundle to
work reliably, though.

I have a feeling that there isn't a pressing need to be able to install
.app bundles from easy_install. If the package maintainer is going to go
to the trouble of writing a setup.py that can be used with py2app, he'll
almost certainly actually build the .app binary and distribute it. Since
they're standalone, they don't really interact with the other installed
packages.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter