[Distutils] install_recommends proposal

[Martijn Faassen]

Martijn Faassen wrote:
[snip]
> My first response, not based on actually looking at the proposal is that 
> a simple 'or' condition would not be sufficient, as the package manager 
> doesnt' know which clause in the condition to look at to find the 
> preferred version. My second response upon pondering a bit more is that 
> the package manager could be told to always prefer the or-ed condition 
> that is most specific.

This assumes of course that setuptools has a way to let installation tools:

* access the or clauses

* determine which ones are the most specific

Or has a resolution algorithm for this itself.

We also have to resolve situations where we could have multiple specific 
versions:

Package A says (hypothetical syntax):

    install_requires = [
       'B or B == 1.3',
       'C or C == 1.7',
      ]

and then a package B which says:

     install_requires = [
        'C or C == 1.7.1',
     ]

which one to pick? C will do, but if we want to be specific, should we 
pick C 1.7 or C 1.7.1?

I propose we let the outer package (A) break the contention and thus 
decide on C 1.7. The inner package winning would otherwise block 
framework packages from having the ability to make informed decisions to 
diverge from recommendations lower down the dependency tree.

Regards,

Martijn