2009/11/7 Kaelin Colclasure <kaelin@acm.org>: [...]
As both a CPAN contributor and a recent PyPI contributor I think I can speak to this:
When I packaged my first Perl module for CPAN distribution, there was no question about how to go about it. There was a clear recipe and it worked without a hitch the first time I tried.
When I recently packaged my first Python module for PyPI I was a bit dismayed to learn that easy_install is just one of several ways to disseminate Python code. The documentation is fragmented... The stuff I read on easy_install basically assumed you already knew all about distutils, and I eventually had to reorganize my code from a simple module to a package just to get a few non-code files to be pulled in by the install. A less persistent would-be contributor might have given up in frustration.
I joined this mailing list instead, and got my package working with some kind assistance. :-) But CPAN was just easier to contribute to.
What was in particular, the pieces missing in Distutils (doc+code) that made you use Setuptools (doc+code) ? ++ Tarek