[Distutils] checking if external dependencies are satisfied (and aborting ow).

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 12:48 PM 12/4/2006 +0100, Ramon Diaz-Uriarte wrote:
>(Apologies for cross-posting, but since this relates to both Pylons
>and distutils I figured it'd be OK)
>
>
>Dear All,
>
>We are developing a web-based application using Pylons. Pylons itself
>allows for easy distribution via eggs. Our application depends on
>non-Python software (mainly R and a bunch of R packages). As part of
>the installation, we would like to run a shell script (with possibly
>some Python and R code in it), and verify if all R-dependencies are
>satisfied, and if they are not, abort the installation.
>
>Note we are not trying to get setuptools to install the R-stuff, just
>run a script which checks a few things. I've searched the distutils
>and Pylons lists and docs and I cannot find this addressed, but I
>think I once read about this being possible. What am I missing?

You may be thinking of the zc.buildout system, which allows you to create 
"recipes" (sort of like makefiles, but simpler) that can be used to install 
complex systems, including both eggs and non-Python software.  See:

http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/zc.buildout/
http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/zc.recipe.cmmi/