At 08:51 AM 4/19/2006 +0200, Fredrik Lundh wrote:
do you expect linux and bsd packagers to switch to your stuff for all their python needs,
Heck no, which is why setuptools tries hard to be compatible with bdist_* commands. As long as they use --root or --single-version-externally-managed, setuptools should play nice with them.
or are you building a parallel universe ? if so, why ?
Many Python users are unable to use existing packaging systems - if for example they're not root, or their platform doesn't have one (Windows and Mac). People developing Python applications often need to switch between different versions of Python packages, and manage what packages are distributed with their application, while sometimes using bleeding edge versions. They can't use a system packaging tool either. People distributing Python libraries don't want to have to build packages for each and every Linux flavor, plus BSDs and other platforms. People creating extensible applications and frameworks (Zope, TurboGears, Chandler, Trac, ...) can't use system packagers to install and manage their plugins, or the libraries used by their plugins, especially if they're end-user applications or are run in shared hosting space. And there are probably other reasons that are escaping me at the moment. Mainly, though, setuptools offers developers relief from having to support myriad packaging systems in order to be able to depend on other Python packages. They specify their dependencies in terms of PyPI, not in terms of distribution X's name for a system package that installs that facility. That and plugin support are setuptools' core raison d'etre.