[Catalog-sig] PyPI enhancement wish items?

[Ian Bicking]

Richard Jones wrote:
> Please fire away. I may have some time to work on this in the near future. 
> Current stuff I know about:
> 
> - PEP for metadata 1.2
>   http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0345.html
>   (though this is not finished nor has it been commented on)

The most notable addition seems to be Requires.  Would this be read from 
install_requires?  It seems like this has to go in Setuptools (to 
generate the PKG-INFO) as well as PyPI (to consume it).

Setuptools has the extra features, which could also be shown, probably 
more as Recommended than as Required.

Setuptools doesn't allow for requirements like C libraries, or Python 
versions.  It would be nice if it did (at least the Python versions).  I 
don't know if Requires in the metadata will include those kinds of 
requirements?

> - incorporate Ian Bicking's XML-RPC API
>   http://mail.python.org/pipermail/catalog-sig/2005-May/000634.html
> - auto-generate download_urls for package uploads
> - command-line tool to query pypi and fetch entries (is this necessary
>   given easy_install?)

I think it's still useful; easy_install only works if you know what you 
are looking for.

Maybe it could be integrated into easy_install... but it might be best 
if it was a stand-alone script for now, and maybe integrate into nest later.

Better keyword searching support would be good too, especially through 
XML-RPC or some RESTish interface.  E.g.:

   /pypi/packages/wsgi+application

Gives you a list of everything with the wsgi and application keywords. 
I think Kevin worked around this, but he was having problems searching 
for multiple keywords as well.

> - DOAP support
> - better searching

+2!  A single search box on the front page would be most appreciated.

> - tooltips for field labels
> - change notification emails
> - admin interface for user details editing

Comments might be nice, but sadly require maintenance, for spam and 
content.  A more constrained thing might be links to other packages, so 
you could see what else is

Some other things:

Download tracking would be nice.  I know at least one person has been 
reluctant to move all his packages to the Cheese Shop because it didn't 
count downloads and SF did.  And I hate SF downloading so so so much.

Changing the template to match the new look would be nice, of course.


I look forward to the improvements!

-- 
Ian Bicking  /  ianb at colorstudy.com  /  http://blog.ianbicking.org