On 24 February 2015 at 18:58, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:
Why no command-line equivalent for the other two methods? I propose the following interface: if there's only one positional argument, we're asking to print its shebang line; if there are two and the input position is an archive instead of a directory, we're copying. (In the future people will want an option to print more stuff, e.g. the main function or even a full listing.)
Thinking about this, there are 3 main uses: 1. Create an archive 2. Print the shebang 3. Change the shebang Of these, (1) is the crucial one. Basic usage should be python -m zipapp mydir [-o anothername.pyz] [-p interpreter] [-m entry:point] This zips up mydir to create an archive mydir.pyz. Options to change the target name, set a shebang line (side note: --python/-p or --interpreter/-i?) and set the entry point, I see this as pretty non-negotiable, this is the key use case that needs to be as simple as possible. To print the shebang, we could use python -m zipapp myapp.pyz --show This allows for future expansion by adding options, although most other things you might want to do (list the files, display __main__.py) can be done with a standard zip utility. I'm not keen on the option name --show, but I can't think of anything substantially better. To modify an archive could be done using python -m zipapp old.pyz new.pyz [-p interpreter] Default is to strip the shebang (no -p option). There's no option to omit the target and do an inplace update because I feel the default action (strip the shebang from the existing file with no backup) is too dangerous. To be explicit, "python -m zipapp app.pyz" will fail with a message "In-place editing of python zip applications is not supported". That seems to work. Open questions: 1. To create an archive, use -o target for an explicit target name, or just "target". The former is more conventional, the latter consistent with modification. Or we could make modification use a (mandatory) -o option. 2. -p/--python or -i/--interpreter for the shebang setting option 3. What to call the "show the shebang line" option Paul