[Distutils] Distutils changes - end user requirements (Was: Deprecate MANIFEST.in)

[David Cournapeau]

Marius Gedminas wrote:
>
> But that list is for *programs*, not *libraries*.
>   

The difference starts to be blurry for python (is numpy an application
or a library ?), and it does not make much sense for windows users, I think.

> I don't understand a desire of downloading twenty .exe files and
> clicking on them all to get an app running.  Did I misunderstand
> something?
>   

I think it is related to several issues:
    - no uninstall with eggs
    - .exe is a known thing for any windows user, .egg isn't
    - you can't easily get the dependencies, download them separately,
and install this on another computer

One thing which would be nice too is something to bundle several python
packages together, a bit like pip freeze does, but to build one single
installer.

For all those reasons, having a commonly accepted, low-level set of data
that can be fed/obtained from any tool is crucial. I don't see any other
way to allow different tools to be built reliably, depending on the
platform and/or goal.

cheers,

David