[Distutils] Package database, uninstall, etc.

[Mats Wichmann]

Prior discussion has roughly been:

My gripe: the fact that a package is already installed is not
detected with a warning.

Thomas Heller:  This should probably wait until there is a
distutils registry of installed modules.

Me: Is this in the works?

Thomas: No, I'm not aware of any activity.

He goes on to say folks (well, AMK) know it's needed, and
probably requires a PEP.


Should we get that ball rolling?  In the most general terms,
it appears that PEP 241 formally, plus just "how distutils
works", describes one of the software collection types we're
interested in: the distribution (although PEP 241 itself
appears to describe only one component of the distribution,
the metadata, or what other terminology calls a "Software
Definition File").

The other type we need, to implement things like removal,
show installed packages, detection of previous install of
same or different version, track dependencies (gack...no...
not RPM!!!), etc., is an "installed software" collection.

I'd propose that's an appropriate subject for a PEP.
I don't have any idea how much or how little of this
is considered "necessary" (as opposed to "might be nice").

(I can volunteer to carry the ball if necessary, but I'm
sure I'm nowhere near the best qualified person).

Mats