[Distutils] Buildout recipe for managing .deb packages?

[zooko]

On Apr 9, 2009, at 14:25 PM, Kent Tenney wrote:

> to get an app to run or compile I do a bunch of
> sudo apt-get install xxxx
>
> This can involve tedious trial and error.
>
> Maybe I like the app, maybe I don't.
>
> If I like it, I want a convenient format in which to remember the  
> required packages, automate their installation, provide convenience  
> when building machines.
>
> If I don't like it, I'd like to remove the packages I installed.
>
> Buildout does this for eggs, and tarballs via cmmi, I want the same  
> convenience for system packages.

What I would do is turn the Python package into a .deb which declares  
its dependency on those other .deb's, using stdeb.  Then I do "sudo  
apt-get install $THAT_NEW_ONE" and it automatically brings in the  
others.  When I decide I don't like it, I do "sudo apt-get remove  
$THAT_NEW_ONE", and apt cleverly figures out that I don't need those  
other ones anymore.

Regards,

Zooko