[Distutils] PEP 376 - install/uninstall script in Distutils ?

[Kevin Teague]

-1 for install/uninstall scripts in Distutils

I'd argue that the scope of Distutils is already wide enough that it  
doesn't need to be extended to also be a "package manager" -- even if  
it's a really simple one.

If a install/uninstall tool does go into Python, I'd rather see it as  
something like 'simplepackageinstaller.install' instead of  
'Distutils.scripts.install'. This would also make it more clear that  
this tool is simply working with the standard packaging formats and  
tools, and doesn't muddy the format/implementation as much as if it's  
just another part of Distutils.

But then I don't think Python should have a built-in installer or  
package manager. There are excellent tools already available  
(Buildout, pip, dpkg, RPM), it would be better if we guided people to  
these tools and let them pick the right one for their installation use  
case.

If there was a installer, I'm assuming it'd be quite a simple one -  
e.g. installs single-version into site-packages. This caters to well  
to casual user -- they can just run a "standard" command out-of-the- 
box and take-off running with a distribution, but it also teaches them  
bad habits (e.g. that you want to be commonly installing into site- 
packages or that you want to develop your own code without properly  
expressing it's dependencies). When they want to use better  
development practices, they'll have to switch to a "non-standard"  
tools to do "non-standard" installations.