[Distutils] Re: [Python-checkins] python/dist/src/Doc/dist dist.tex,1.53,1.54

[Anthony Baxter]

>>> "Fred L. Drake, Jr." wrote
> "Installing" should be accessible without any knowledge of the Python
> language.  This is for system administrators who need to know how
> software is installed and managed on their systems.
> 
> "Distributing" is for people who write setup.py scripts or otherwise
> work with distutils from Python.  This is very specifically for people
> more knowledgable regarding Python and the specific software packaged
> using the distutils.

Ah, ok. That makes more sense. Ok, so most of the documentation goes into
"Distributing". It may be that some ground that's covered in Installing 
also ends up (in a reduced form) in Distributing, with references to the
appropriate place in the Installing documnent.

>  > There should probably be a bit more in the library ref about distutils -
> 
> That's a possibility, and not without merit.  Given the general
> difficulty people have in locating information about distutils, I'm
> not inclined to point to still more places.  Would perhaps a somewhat
> more elaborate description in the distutils section of the library
> reference, with interesting index entries, be sufficient to drive
> people to the right places within the distutils-specific documents?

Yeah - I'd like there to at least be a basic description of the major
chunks of distutils functionality (Compiler, Extension, Command, 
dependencies and the like) in the libref -- with pointers to the 
fuller reference materials in the Distributing doco... While 
having more places for documentation isn't a great thing, neither is
having the docs in a separate document that's not obviously 
available. :)

But for now, I'm working on just getting libref-like exhaustive 
documentation of all the modules, functions, methods and classes. 
Once that's done, massaging it into a couple of documents should 
be relatively painless (well, compared to the effort to document
it all).

Not sure if I'll get this done in time for 2.3... Hope to.

Anthony
-- 
Anthony Baxter     <anthony@interlink.com.au>   
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.