[Distutils] Round 6 - PEP 440 - Version Identification and Dependency Specification Version

[Donald Stufft]

> On Aug 9, 2014, at 4:26 AM, Paul Moore <p.f.moore at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On 8 August 2014 22:53, Donald Stufft <donald at stufft.io> wrote:
>> Direct references
>> =================
>> 
>> Some automated tools may permit the use of a direct reference as an
>> alternative to a normal version specifier. A direct reference consists of
>> the specifier ``@`` and an explicit URL.
>> 
>> Whether or not direct references are appropriate depends on the specific
>> use case for the version specifier. Automated tools SHOULD at least issue
>> warnings and MAY reject them entirely when direct references are used
>> inappropriately.
>> 
>> Public index servers SHOULD NOT allow the use of direct references in
>> uploaded distributions. Direct references are intended as a tool for
>> software integrators rather than publishers.
>> 
>> Depending on the use case, some appropriate targets for a direct URL
>> reference may be a valid ``source_url`` entry (see PEP 426), an sdist, or
>> a wheel binary archive. The exact URLs and targets supported will be tool
>> dependent.
>> 
>> For example, a local source archive may be referenced directly::
>> 
>>    pip @ file:///localbuilds/pip-1.3.1.zip
>> 
>> Alternatively, a prebuilt archive may also be referenced::
>> 
>>    pip @ file:///localbuilds/pip-1.3.1-py33-none-any.whl
> 
> One very minor question. Is URL format required here? I guess so. On
> Windows, file URLs are confusing and annoying to type - use of /
> rather than \ makes tab-completion useless, it's difficult to remember
> how many slashes go at the start and where the drive letter goes, and
> do UNC paths need 157 or 158 slashes at the start (:-)), and the
> documentation is inconsistent and hard to find.
> 
> Allowing a pathname here would be convenient for users, but it's 100%
> not important enough to need a new version of the spec. A
> clarification (presumably, that a URL is required) with a pointer to a
> document that explains the relevant filename->URL translation
> algorithm, would be good, though.
> 
> Paul


To be clear, the direct reference is mostly for use in the install_requires. On
the CLI pip can still just take a path to a file or whatever. This feature is
intended to replace dependency_links in a way that people can use them for
private packages but that they won't be allowed on PyPI or the like.

---
Donald Stufft
PGP: 7C6B 7C5D 5E2B 6356 A926 F04F 6E3C BCE9 3372 DCFA

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