[Numpy-discussion] Future directions for SciPy in light of meeting at Berkeley

[Nicolas Chauvat]

Hello,

On Wed, Mar 09, 2005 at 12:32:33AM -0700, Travis Oliphant wrote:

> Subdivide scipy into several super packages that install cleanly but can 
> also be installed separately.  Implement a CPAN-or-yum-like repository 
> and query system for installing scientific packages.

Please don't try to reinvent a repository and installation system specific
to scipy. Under unix distribution and package systems are already solving
this problem. Python folks already reinvented part of the wheel with a
PythonPackageIndex that can be updated in one command using distutils. If 
your goal is to have a unique reference for scientific tools, I think it
would be better to set up a Python Scientific Package Index or just use
the existing one at http://www.python.org/pypi/

Packaging/Installation/Querying/Upgrading is a complex task better left to
dedicated existing tools, namely apt-get/yum/urpmi/portage/etc.

Regarding subdividing scipy into several packages installable separately 
under the same scipy base namespace umbrella, you should be aware that PyXML
has had many problems doing the same (but PyXML has also been occulting
existing parts of standard library, which may feel a bit too weird).

-- 
Nicolas Chauvat

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