[Distutils] Is this a reasonable place to discuss zc.buildout? Or do I need to make a separate list?

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 05:49 AM 9/13/2006 -0400, Jim Fulton wrote:

>zc.buildout, http://www.python.org/pypi/zc.buildout, is a system for:
>
>- Assembling applications consisting of many programs, Python and
>otherwise, possibly distributed over muiltiple machines, and for
>
>- Managing eggs not installed into system Python installations.
>
>Buildout is complementary to easy_install.  While easy_install is
>great for simply installing eggs into a system Python in a highly
>automated and simple way, buildout is great when:
>
>- You need more control over the eggs used,
>
>- Different applications need different egg versions,
>
>- You are developing an application and don't want to (or can't)
>modify a Python installation,
>
>- You want isolation between different applications sharing a single
>Python installation.
>
>Like easy_install, zc.buildout builds on setuptools.
>
>Buildout is still fairly early in it's development and is still
>evolving.  Lots of people are trying it out and providing feedback,
>which is great.  Right now, people send me questions individually.
>This means that others can't benefit from their questions or their
>answers.  IOW, I need a mailing list.  I hate to create yet another
>mailing list and wonder if this list would be a reasonable place for
>people to discuss zc.buildout.
>
>Would anyone object if I directed zc.buildout discussions here?

I certainly wouldn't object.  I actually think that something like 
buildout's recipe system should eventually become part of -- or replace 
most build operations of -- setuptools/distutils.  ISTM that Buildout is to 
Python what Ant is to Java or Rake is to Ruby; i.e., a language-idiomatic 
framework for building things in that language.  (I don't count SCons or 
the various other Python-based build systems I've seen, as they primarily 
target building non-Python things, whereas zc.buildout is first and 
foremost a Python build tool.)

Anyway, I think I'd ultimately like to see distutils' library and extension 
build facilities replaced with buildout recipes.  The work I've done 
towards trying to get distutils to build shared libraries and do inter-egg 
linkage would be a lot less complex if it could be assembled using 
something like zc.buildout recipes.