[Distutils] setuptools site-package pollution

[Matthias Urlichs]

Hi,

Phillip J. Eby:
> There is another option I'm working on, 
> --single-version-externally-managed, which is designed for system packagers 
> to create old-style packages, but with the metadata included as a separate 
> .egg-info directory.  This won't help you, though, because it will result 
> in having even *more* directories in site-packages - the package 
> directories plus an .egg-info directory.

The package directory is not a problem, one directory needs to be
present anyway -- whether it's called "foo" or "foo-VERSION.egg" doesn't
matter much.

Maybe it would be a good idea to hide all the .egg-info directories
under one common subdirectory, i.e. instead of "foo.egg-info" (or, as you
plan IIRC, "foo-VERSION.egg-info"), the metadata would be in something
like .../EGG-INFO/foo-VERSION/*.

Advantage: no clutter, less work for every tools because you have to
scan through fewer directory items.

I'd go as far as disallowing .egg files in directories which have an
EGG-INFO subdirectory, which would reduce scan times even more.
Rationale: Either a directory is externally managed, or it is not.
(/usr vs. /usr/local.) If it is, shipping an .egg makes no sense --
you don't gain anything by doing that. If it is not, on the other hand
installing externally-managed versions makes no sense.

-- 
Matthias Urlichs   |   {M:U} IT Design @ m-u-it.de   |  smurf at smurf.noris.de
Disclaimer: The quote was selected randomly. Really. | http://smurf.noris.de
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