[Distutils] Thank you for the ability to do `pip install git+https://...`

[Nick Coghlan]

On 28 March 2016 at 22:54, Alex Grönholm <alex.gronholm at nextday.fi> wrote:
> You could always point pip to the automatically generated zip
> (https://github.com/nchammas/flintrock/archive/master.zip). That way you
> won't have to wait for git to pointlessly download your entire version
> history when you just want to install something.

I'd assume pip is doing shallow clones when installing from version
control, and if that currently isn't the case due to lack of time for
implementation and testing, it should be a relatively straightforward
PR for someone to submit as a performance optimisation.

It's also the case that the automatically generated zip archives are a
GitHub specific feature rather than a general property of version
control systems, so at least some folks are going to avoid depending
on that service specific feature and instead favour the
host-independent approach of using the relevant version control
protocol.

Regards,
Nick.

P.S. More generally: is a thread where someone is saying "Thanks for
this feature!" *really* the best place to be telling them "you
shouldn't be using that feature"? It's rare enough for maintainers of
any open source project to hear a heartfelt "thank you" that it's at
least worth considering taking other replies off list :)

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia