[Distutils] distutils and JPython

[Greg Ward]

On 25 December 1999, Finn Bock said:
> Generally I'm looking at distutils to see if it can help me simplify
> the installation of some of the JPython modules I have created.

Finn --

thanks for all the suggestions.  I have skimmed them, but not come close
to absorbing them.  JPython support is definitely a medium-term goal for
the Distutils, but it certainly wasn't planned for 0.1.  I also wasn't
planning on it for 0.2, but I am open to persuasion and/or threats.  ;-)

> These are normal installation issues. I am a bit unsure on how much I
> can reasonably expect distutils to deal with this. From my very
> limited experience with distutils, I think distutils is exactly the
> right place to put some of the logic that deals with JVM and OS
> dependencies as described above.

I totally agree.  The JVM is just another sort of "platform", and should
probably be dealt with on the same level as "posix" or "nt".  I hadn't
thought previously about the differences between JVMs; I had been
naively thinking that we would add "java" support to the existing
"posix" and "nt" (and someday, "mac") support.  Guess it won't be that
simple... sigh...

> a) Documentation buglet. In the USAGE file for "dist", -f is described
> as an alias for --formats. -f does not work.

D'oh!  Well, it *used* to be -- "-f" is now an alias for the global
command-line option "--force", which was snuck in somewhere around
0.1.1.  Fixed.

> b) How about allowing for some alias names for the README file. Some
> of us lazy double-clicking windows types prefer names like README.txt.

Oh, all right.  It's also nicer for HTTP servers that way.  Damn and
blast this cross-platform targeting.  Why can't everyone just be happy
using Unix?  ;-)

> c) Why are "packages" and "py_module" mutually exclusive. One of my
> products happens to have a toplevel module which contains "from
> pck.Main import *". I think that I find the current behavior limiting.

Mainly laziness -- I had a sneaking suspicion that allowing both of them
at the same time might have subtle problems, so I sidestepped the whole
issue.  Make a good case for where they're both needed, and I'll
reconsider.  (I agree that it's limiting, but *how* limiting?)

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward - software developer                    gward@cnri.reston.va.us
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