[Distutils] moving things forward

[Greg Ewing]

Chris Barker wrote:
> This is python packaging, I'm still trying to see why you'd need to read 
> the config without python available.

Even if python is available, you might not want to run
arbitrary code just to install a package.

If a config file can contain executable code, then it
can contain bugs. Debugging is something the developer of
a package should have to do, not the user. In my experience,
fixing someone else's buggy setup.py is about as much fun
as pulling one's own teeth out with a blunt screwdriver.

-- 
Greg