[Distutils] Beyond wheels 1.0: helping downstream, FHS and more

[Paul Moore]

On 16 April 2015 at 00:48, Steve Dower <Steve.Dower at microsoft.com> wrote:
> On the Start Menu suggestion, I think that's a horrible idea. Pip is not the
> system package manager and it shouldn't be changing the system. Unversioned
> script launchers are in the same category, but aren't quite as offensive.
>
> I know it's only a hypothetical, but I'd much rather it didn't get repeated
> so often that it actually happens. There are better tools for making app
> installers, as opposed to package installers.

Sorry - I agree it's an awful idea. Older wininst installers such as
the pywin32 (and I think the PyQT one) one do this, I wanted to use it
as an example of abuse of postinstall scripts that should *not* be
perpetuated in any new scheme.

Just to expand on another point in my mail - I'd like *anyone* to
provide an example of a genuine use case for something they think
should be a "required" installer extension. I'm not sure such a thing
actually exists...

Paul