[Distutils] [Python-Dev] How we can get rid of eggs for 2.6 and beyond

[Paul Moore]

On 22/03/2008, Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:
> This probably needs to be refined a little.  Exclusive right is too
>  strong, and it goes against Paul Moore's desire for using a single
>  tool.

Huh? How's that? Don't forget that I'm on Windows, and on Windows
there is no "system tool" - just bdist_wininst, bdist_msi and
easy_install. The fact that bdist_wininst and bdist_msi link into the
system UI for listing and uninstallation doesn't make packages using
them "system packages". If easy_install put add/remove program info in
place, my "single tool" would be the add/remove list. If something
else (for example, the proposed index of installed package, with a
suitable UI) is deemed the "single tool", then bdist_wininst and
bdist_msi have to be changed to respect that.

The only fly in this ointment is bdist_msi, which uses MSI format,
which is a lot nearer to a Windows "system packager" than anything
else. Whether that means bdist_msi can't be changed to work with a
package index rather than (or as well as, I don't care) add/remove, I
don't know.

>  Unfortunately, a warning message might then need to be localized.  So
>  this idea still needs some work.

The "one way to do it" uninstaller should be able to uninstall
everything. If it needs to call the system uninstaller for a specific
package, there's nothing wrong with doing that. But why tell me to run
a different command? Just do it for me. I only want one UI, the rest
is implementation detail.

(Others may have different preferences, so a choice may need to be
made. If so, and if it goes against me, fair enough, I have to decide
what to do about that for myself. But I'd rather force people to tell
me "no", than leave people thinking they satisfied me and wondering
why I'm still complaining...)

Paul.