[IPython-dev] easy_install ipython==dev

[Fernando Perez]

Robert Kern wrote:

> It's an ez_setup.py bootstrap problem, not a real setuptools issue. Getting the
> setuptools source and "python setup.py install"ing it works fine. After that,
> anything else using setuptools should work fine with Python 2.5. Yet one more
> reason not to use ez_setup.py, but not a reason to avoid setuptools itself.

Note that I've never said "let's avoid setuptools".  In fact, I've recently 
spent a fair amount of time (including bugging you on the phone) making sure 
that we _do_ support eggs as best we can.

I just don't trust the tools, so I want to make sure that we keep them well 
sandboxed, so they can't cause havoc on a normal plain-distutils install by 
accident (like the matplotlib setup.py did, thanks to a poorly written 
setup.py script).

It would be nice to have a setuptools 'proper usage' list.  I guess it 
includes things like:

* avoid ez_setup like the plague

* write your setup.py so it never uses setuptools.py unless explicitly requested.


But I don't know if that addresses all the eggs use cases.  Putting this 
explicitly on our wiki would be a good thing.  I say _our_ wiki, because the 
setuptools one is way over-enthusiastic in recommending ezsetup, and from past 
experience, simply oversells the whole thing, so I don't want to rely on their 
  documentation.


Cheers,

f