[Distutils] [Python Language Summit] Distutils / Packaging survey

[David Cournapeau]

Ian Bicking wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 12:39 PM, Floris Bruynooghe
> <floris.bruynooghe at gmail.com <mailto:floris.bruynooghe at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I imagine things like libdir, prefix, datadir, docdir and other things
>     copied from autoconf.  Where the defaults would be something like:
>
>     prefix = sys.prefix
>     libdir = sys.prefix/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/pkgname
>     datadir = sys.prefix/share/mypackage
>     docdir = sys.prefix/share/doc/mypackage
>
>
> I wouldn't want to use those.  What goes in libdir, what goes in
> datadir?  I don't know, and frankly the distinctions start getting
> really arbitrary.

They are not arbitrary - they come from standard usage and have a
rationale, at least on Unix (datadir for arch independent, and libdir
for arch dependent, to simplify).

But you mostly do not need to care, as a developer: .py files would be
considered as data files, extensions as arch-dependent, etc... The main
category which needs special care is documentation, and I think I am not
the only one thinking that's one thing missing in distutils ATM.
 
>
> I would rather see something like pkg_resources existing API, where
> there is some file that maps out how the local names of files (where
> they'd be in a checkout) map to their installed location, then the
> pkg_resources code could finds the real location of the file.

I am not sure I understand how this would help OS packagers - this does
not sound as the same problem at all.

David