[Distutils] YAGNI extras and tests_require

Jim Fulton jim at zope.com
Sun Oct 22 19:52:24 CEST 2006


I'd like to call "Ya aint gonna need it" on the extras feature of setuptools.

As far as I can tell, extras are just a way to avoid fine-grained packages.
Is this benefit worth the complexity?  I don't think so.  It violates
"There's Only One Way To Do It" and increases the complexity of setuptools.

Setuptools is wonderful but it is complex.  I think it would be helpful to
make it simpler and I really don't see a need for extras.

I think a similar argument could be made against the tests_require feature.
(In the presence of the extras feature, it's puzzling that this isn't
handled as an extra.)

Jim

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