[Distutils] [Python-Dev] how to easily consume just the parts of eggs that are good for you

[Greg Ewing]

Paul Moore wrote:
> And I would say that Windows doesn't have a problem. Are any Windows
> users proposing building a package management system for Windows
> (Python-specific or otherwise)? It's a genuine question - is this
> something that Windows users are after, or is it just Linux users
> trying to show Windows users what they are missing?

I think the requirements for a package manager are different
on different platforms.

On Linux, you need to be able to cope with files scattered
all over the system, and complex webs of dependencies between
packages.

On Windows, you need to be able to cope with scattered files
and multiple applications sharing a file, but not usually
with dependencies, because each application typically comes
with all the files it needs (even if some of them might not
get installed because they're already there for another
application).

On MacOSX, applications are usually completely self-contained,
include all their dependencies and are not spread around,
so there's really nothing for a package manager to do.

What all this means for Python package management, I really
don't know. Whatever is done, I'd like to see it kept as
dirt-simple as possible. Ideal would be the MacOSX situation
where the package is just a directory of files that you
put somewhere obvious, and you can tell what it is just
by looking at it, and get rid of it by dragging it to the
trash -- so you don't need a package manager.

--
Greg