[Distutils] Name the software! Package quality tester.

[Éric Araujo]

> The problem is that it's not distributions (although it will test them
> too). It's "Things that has a setup.py" and "what has an entry on
> PyPI".

Okay, so that’s called a project in distutils docs and PEPs (more info
on Tarek’s post I linked to, which links to a previous distutils-sig
thread).  The names of PyPI and packages.python.org are the only parts
of our official infrastructure that disagree, if I recall correctly.

(It has been suggested to backronym PyPI to Python Projects Index, but
this was rejected for reasons I don’t remember.)

Of course, people coming from Perl or using an operating system with a
concept of “software packages” and “package manager” naturally call the
things you can download from PyPI “packages”.  People from the BSD and
linux world also already have a conflicting use for “distribution”.

It’s probably too late to try to call those downloadable things
archives, parcels or bundles, and even more too late to rename Python
packages “supermodules” or something else to free up the word “package”.

My point is that if we have to live with this imperfect situation, we
should try to remain consistent as much as possible to prevent confusion
(see for example the thread about distribution/release confusion in PEP
345 that was opened *after* the PEP was thoroughly discussed and accepted).

Regards