[Distutils] Package install failures in 2.6.3 - setuptools vs Distribute

[Ronald Oussoren]

On 5 Oct, 2009, at 16:25, K. Richard Pixley wrote:

> Ronald Oussoren wrote:
>> For beginners this issue is a showstopper that they cannot resolve  
>> without help.
>>
> I'm a relative beginner to distutils/setuptools/distribute, but a  
> long time configuration/build/packaging professional.  You're  
> mistaken if you think that any of these technologies are suitable  
> for beginners.  The state of python package distribution resembles  
> the state of linux packages circa 1995, except that it isn't very  
> well documented at all.

I didn't say that distutils is suitable for beginners, but beginners  
to use them and are confused when they stop working.
>
> Easy_install certainly isn't, and never has been.  My first  
> questions about easy_install, (how do I get a list of installed  
> packages?  How do I upgrade all installed packages?  How do I delete  
> a package using easy_install?) are all unanswerable.

All of these are not yet implemented. PJE has mentioned that he wants  
to work on this in for setuptools 0.7, but development of setuptools  
has completely stalled.   The distribute package was created because  
of this, and development is moving forward again.

Ronald