[Distutils] README.rst vs DESCRIPTION.rst

[Ian Cordasco]

On Sun, Sep 27, 2015 at 4:55 PM, Ionel Cristian Mărieș
<contact at ionelmc.ro> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 12:20 AM, Ian Cordasco <graffatcolmingov at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Your project's long description doesn't need
>> detailed instructions on how to start contributing, reporting bugs,
>> etc.
>
>
> What would you put in README then?
>
> For contribution/bucktracker guide CONTRIBUTING.rst/md is a better place -
> GitHub loves it. But who cares, no one uses GitHub nowdays :)

Ah, the patented sarcasm that's always so helpful.

The README is typically (harkening back to pre-GitHub days) where one
lays out the relevant information for other developers and for users
in one easy to find place. Looking for the contributing guidelines? Go
read the CONTRIBUTING file. Looking for how to build the project on X
operating system? Go read X file. When well designed, this can still
be the front page of a project for the websites that display it as
such (GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, etc.). Take for example:
https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/blob/master/README.md. It's
description lives there, sure, but there's a lot more information
there than that.

All of that said, as Paul said, it's a guideline. Just like PEP-0008.
Follow it, or don't. There's not much point in arguing this further.