[IPython-dev] iPython binary wheels for OS-X

Paul Moore p.f.moore at gmail.com
Mon Dec 9 18:28:25 EST 2013


On 9 December 2013 22:40, Aaron Meurer <asmeurer at gmail.com> wrote:
>> easy_install hacks sys.path to put installed packages before the
>> standard library. That was controversial behaviour at the time it was
>> implemented, IIRC - Guido specifically did not want to have user
>> installed packages able to overwrite stdlib behaviour. I don't know if
>> that position has changed, it's so rarely relevant that I don't think
>> people care that much (they tend to care more about the nasty pth file
>> hacks just for their own sake, rather than for the implications :-))
>
> Does Python 3.3 help the situation? They refactored the import system
> quite a bit there.

Not particularly - ultimately, the key point here is that you're not
*supposed* to override the standard library modules (as I understand
it - this is only my recollection of the debates at the time!)

To me, the real fix would be for IPython to import its *own* readline,
which wraps the stdlib readline when appropriate, and other modules as
needed. Then there's no overriding and no name clashes to worry about.
(If that was done, pyreadline could also stop making itself available
as "readline" so it too becomes available only when requested). AIUI,
that's what MinRK's patch does.

Ideally, the core Python interactive prompt would *also* allow users
to plug in their own readline functionality, but that's somewhat
orthogonal to how external projects like IPython deal with the issue.
Paul



More information about the IPython-dev mailing list