[Numpy-discussion] segmentation fault when installing with pip and python2.7

[David Cournapeau]

On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 6:21 AM, Benjamin Root <ben.root at ou.edu> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 2:38 PM, David Cournapeau <cournape at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 3:39 AM, Benjamin Root <ben.root at ou.edu> wrote:
>>
>> > I have to wonder why this question keeps coming up.
>>
>> In general, because the packaging/build infrastructure in python is
>> horrible.
>>
>> However, in this precise case, the issue is simply that numpy 1.4.1
>> does not support python2.7.
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> David
>
> Hmm, maybe I should phrase my question differently...  I meant to ask is if
> there is some way that we could
>
> 1) better discourage the use of these methods

We already discourage them on the ML. But as much as I and other
loathe those tools, we should not tell people how to install things or
worse prevent people who want to use them from using them.

> 2) improve the error messages of failed installation attempts to help users
> (maybe have a particular webpage available with FAQ regarding installation
> issues and have that URL printed in the case of an installation failure)?

I was hoping that ask.scipy.org would do that, but it seems that we
have not found a way to "bootstrap" it yet.

But actually, I think my original answer is the only reasonable one in
the long term. The only way to stop those recurring questions is to
fix the tools by creating our own. I would rather spend time working
on a solution that makes distutils insanity go away rather than
patching things over and over to circumvent a broken framework.

cheers,

David