[Distutils] Static metadata using setup.cfg

[Chris Withers]

Tarek Ziadé wrote:
>> - I've never had to use anything that would require the kind of templating
>> being discussed here, so please make setup.cfg "just work" if setup.cfg.in
>> isn't there.
> 
> That's the case

Yay :-)

>> - I think any kind of templating language is *way to heavyweight*. If you
>> need anything more than simple string substitution, then the code should be
>> in setup.py
> 
> Well, the point is to be able to define sections in a static file that
> will be used without
> having to execute any code in the distribution.
> 
> For example being able to express:
> 
> "if the target python is version 2.6 the dependencies are ..."
> 
> The goal is to be able to run that part on a vanilla Python. without
> having to rely on the distribution's setup.py

Seems like a bad goal to me.

I'd prefer setup.cfg to be totally static. If there are complicated 
if/then/else's needed, they should be in setup.py.

As soon as this file becomes dynamic, we're back in the situation where 
you can't tell what a package requires without installing it, which is 
something I'd really like to not have to do.

cheers,

Chris

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