[Distutils] RFC: Binary Distribution Format for distutils2/packaging

[Paul Moore]

2012/3/15 PJ Eby <pje at telecommunity.com>:
> On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 7:29 PM, Paul Moore <p.f.moore at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> If there's a binary egg available, how do I know whether it's needed
>> without trying a source install and seeing if it works?
>
>
> The egg will have a platform string in its name in that case.  Otherwise,
> it'll be just package-version-pyX.X.egg.
>
> (Actually, on reflection, I'm not sure I understand your question: "needed"
> relative to what?  to downloading the source version?)

Correct. In the context of "I'll use source if I can". I "need" a
binary if there are C files to compile (even for things like optional
speedup code).

I guess there's an implied requirement that I can tell what I "need"
just by inspection of the types of distribution available.because
obviously there's always the option of trying a source install and
seeing how it works.

In a wider sense, I'm thinking about how something like "pysetup
install" should work if binary formats are supported. If a package
supplies source, and a variety of eggs, but not wininst or new-format
package, then what should pysetup install (or the user, if
auto-conversion isn't implemented) choose? From what you say above,
the answer appears to be "the egg if its name has a platform string,
otherwise the source". That's basically what I was getting at.

Thanks,
Paul.