I was wondering if it might be a good idea to put a function in Distutils that could query if the currently installed version has certain abilities. Each ability could be assigned a name, and it could be implemented very simply: (in setup.py) try: if not check_ability('a'): raise Exception # to be caught and reraised as SystemExit except: # for versions of Distutils without check_ability(), or without 'a' raise SystemExit, 'This package requires a more recent version of Distutils' (somewhere in the Distutils) def check_ability(ability): ''' Return true if ability is supported by Distutils ''' return ability in ['a', 'b', 'c'] -- Harry Henry Gebel, Senior Developer, Landon House SBS ICQ# 76308382 West Dover Hundred, Delaware
On 31 August 2000, Harry Henry Gebel said:
I was wondering if it might be a good idea to put a function in Distutils that could query if the currently installed version has certain abilities. Each ability could be assigned a name, and it could be implemented very simply:
I'm skeptical. This could be useful for situations where you need version X because feature foo was added, but what about bug fixes? The ability to not crash when compiling extensions described the "old way" (pre-Extension object) on Windows is certainly important; isn't it just easier to say, "I need Distutils 0.9.2"? Greg -- Greg Ward - Unix bigot gward@python.net http://starship.python.net/~gward/ I am deeply CONCERNED and I want something GOOD for BREAKFAST!
On Sat, Sep 02, 2000 at 10:15:54AM -0400, Greg Ward wrote:
On 31 August 2000, Harry Henry Gebel said:
I was wondering if it might be a good idea to put a function in Distutils that could query if the currently installed version has certain abilities. Each ability could be assigned a name, and it could be implemented very simply: I'm skeptical. This could be useful for situations where you need version X because feature foo was added, but what about bug fixes? The ability to not crash when compiling extensions described the "old way" (pre-Extension object) on Windows is certainly important; isn't it just easier to say, "I need Distutils 0.9.2"?
My concern was for some future time when everybody who makes python packages uses Distutils, but most of them will probably not have been members of the Distutils SIG long enough to know when different features were implemented. I also have doubts it would be useful (or used) enough to justify putting it in; but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get people's opinions. -- Harry Henry Gebel, Senior Developer, Landon House SBS ICQ# 76308382 West Dover Hundred, Delaware
On 02 September 2000, Harry Henry Gebel said:
My concern was for some future time when everybody who makes python packages uses Distutils, but most of them will probably not have been members of the Distutils SIG long enough to know when different features were implemented. I also have doubts it would be useful (or used) enough to justify putting it in; but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get people's opinions.
But you have the same problem for any piece of software, and I'm not familiar with any other tool exposing feature lists like this instead of version numbers. Your point is valid -- it's hard to know which features were added when, and which bugs were fixed when -- but I suspect compiling and maintaining a list of what's present in each version of a given tool would be a thankless and herculean task. (But I bet if you suggest it for Perl, it'll get implemented someday...) Greg -- Greg Ward - Linux geek gward@python.net http://starship.python.net/~gward/ Excuse me, but didn't I tell you there's NO HOPE for the survival of OFFSET PRINTING?
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Harry Henry Gebel