[Distutils] PEP 345, PEP 376, PEP 386

[P.J. Eby]

At 12:57 PM 6/4/2009 +0200, Tarek Ziadé wrote:
>On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 11:52 AM, Brian Sutherland
><brian at vanguardistas.net> wrote:
> > I can imagine distutils uninstalling files previously installed by dpkg
> > as a shortcut to breaking a machine. Though I'm not sure what will
> > actually happen in practice.
>
>Distutils defines a standard for an EGG-INFO structure, and provides a
>API for the uninstallation that is more likely to be a reference 
>implementation.

There probably needs to be an install option that prevents the file 
record from being written, and this option should be used when 
creating system packages.

3rd-party installation tools also should not overwrite or delete 
files that are not in a RECORD file without prompting or warning.