[Distutils] Some negative press for easy_install

[Robert Kern]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> At 01:31 PM 2/9/2006 -0600, Robert Kern wrote:
> 
>> Andrew Straw wrote:
>>
>> > Note that matplotlib tried essentially this for a while, but apparently
>> > some folks really didn't like it. I'm not sure what exactly broke on
>> > their systems (they didn't complain to the mailing list), but when
>> > setup.py reverted to a plain distutils script, they cheered.
>>
>> That's right, they complained to me, instead.  :-)
>>
>> The issue was that they had setuptools on their system because they were
>> building eggs for another project, but specifically *didn't* want to
>> install
>> matplotlib as an egg.
> 
> setuptools-based packages can be forced to install the old-fashioned way
> using:
> 
>     setup.py install --single-version-externally-managed
> 
> as long as you also specify a --root directory or a --record file.  This
> is of course not upgradeable or uninstallable without help from a
> packaging tool that can utilize the results of --root or --record.

And this particular user did not want that, either.

-- 
Robert Kern
robert.kern at gmail.com

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter