[Distutils] my wishlist for easy_install

[Toni Mueller]

Hi,

I'd really like to see these two features in easy_install which I can't
find right now:

 1 - coexist with the operating system/recognize packages which are
     installed via operating system means
 2 - remove packages

Currently, when I want to easy_install a package, it starts downloading
all sorts of stuff from PYPI although I have already similar (the same
- maybe other versions) packages in my system which I installed via
the operating system's package manager. I'd really like to not have to
manually inspect a prospective package to then manually download and
install all dependencies via the package manager, and then to proceed
to easy_install -N the offending package, but instead have this process
automated.

I'd also be able to say something like

easy_install -r package

to remove such a package, but only if I installed it via easy_install
in the first place, leaving operating system installed packages alone.


I'm mostly using easy_install on Debian/Linux (Etch), but other
platforms (OpenBSD, maybe Solaris) are relevant for me, too.

Thanks for listening!


Best,
--Toni++