[Numpy-discussion] Proposal: stop supporting 'setup.py install'; start requiring 'pip install .' instead

[Ralf Gommers]

On Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 8:11 PM, Warren Weckesser <
warren.weckesser at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:31 AM, Nathaniel Smith <njs at pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Apparently it is not well known that if you have a Python project
>> source tree (e.g., a numpy checkout), then the correct way to install
>> it is NOT to type
>>
>>   python setup.py install   # bad and broken!
>>
>> but rather to type
>>
>>   pip install .
>>
>>
>
> FWIW, I don't see any mention of this in the numpy docs, but I do see a
> lot of instructions involving `setup.py build` and `setup.py install`.
> See, for example, INSTALL.txt.  Also see
>     http://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/user/install.html#building-from-source
> So I guess it is not surprising that it is not well known.
>

Indeed, install docs are always hopelessly outdated. And we have too many
of them. There's duplicate info in INSTALL.txt and
http://scipy.org/scipylib/building/index.html for example. We should
probably just empty out INSTALL.txt and simply put a link in it to the html
docs.

I've created an issue with a long todo list and a bunch of links:
https://github.com/numpy/numpy/issues/6599. Feel free to add stuff. Or to
go fix something:)

Ralf
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