[Distutils] Provisionally accepting PEP 517's declarative build system interface

[Nick Coghlan]

On 31 May 2017 at 04:17, Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:
> Just to make sure I'm following this correctly, Donald is asking for:
>
> A way for pip to ask back-ends what files should be in an sdist from a
> source checkout or to make an actual sdist
>
> Because sdists are a thing and so we should support them properly
> To make it so building wheels interact with just the files from an sdist
> instead of skipping that and going straight from a source checkout
>
> Have this be a part of PEP 517 or at least a requirement for back-ends to
> support so it doesn't get left out
>
> Am I missing anything?

Yes: there are apparently additional design considerations here that
Thomas and I *aren't aware of* because they relate to internal details
of how pip works that we've never personally needed to worry about.

Rather than trying to wedge the explanation of those considerations
and their consequences into the existing structure of PEP 517 (which I
consider to be a clear and complete discussion of a particular problem
and an appropriate solution), I'd prefer to see them laid out clearly
in their own PEP that describes the status quo of how a pip driven
build works in practice, how PEP 517 alters that status quo, and the
necessary enhancements to the build backend API needed to deal with it
effectively.

Cheers,
Nick.

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