[Distutils] pip on windows: life without eggs ok?

[Chris Lambacher]

Hi,

If I were telling a new Windows Python user what to do to get started, I
would tell them to use easy_install because easy_install will pick up both
installers and binary eggs and do the right thing with those and
virtualenvs.

pip on Windows is a decent into misery. Giving Windows users reliable
instructions on how to set up an appropriate compiler is fraught with
peril. Probably most new Python users on Windows have never done C or set
up a build environment; they probably don't even know what a compiler is or
why they would need one. Even if they do know about compilers, getting the
right Visual Studio version(express or otherwise) is a bit of a problem
because Python does not use the current version of VS and which version you
need changes with Python versions. If you get a working compiler, then you
need to track down the C dependencies of the module you are building.

The click installers are going to be a problem if you do any recommendation
of virtualenv. The recent (or soon to be released) versions have
--no-site-packages as the default and so, the click installers (that will
install to global site-packages directory) won't show up without the user
explicitly giving whatever the arg is for --with-site-packages when the
virtualenv is created.

I heard rumours of plans for pip to support binary packages of some kind on
Windows, but I don't know the details or current status of that.

-Chris

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 7:50 PM, Reinout van Rees <reinout at vanrees.org>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I keep forgetting in discussions that pip doesn't support eggs. Their main
> usecase is installing binary python eggs on windows, I'd say. I use linux
> and OSX myself, so my windows experience is limited.
>
> Question: is pip's compile-from-source character a problem on windows?
> Does everyone use a clicky-click .exe installer for binary packages instead
> of pip? Is easy_install still more popular?
>
>
> Note, I'm not talking about installing pure python packages, but more
> stuff like mapnik, pil, matplotlib and psycopg2: packages that have C
> bindings.
>
>
> I'm asking because I'm writing a Django book and I don't want to get
> clobbered for advising pip when it won't install a mysql or postgres
> binding without major work. So I'd love some feedback from windows users!
>
>
> (I'm mostly using buildout myself, but I'm only describing that near the
> end of my book).
>
>
> Reinout
>
> --
> Reinout van Rees                    http://reinout.vanrees.org/
> reinout at vanrees.org             http://www.nelen-schuurmans.**nl/<http://www.nelen-schuurmans.nl/>
> "If you're not sure what to do, make something. -- Paul Graham"
>
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>



-- 
Christopher Lambacher
chris at kateandchris.net
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