[Python-3000] Proposal: No more standard library additions

[Greg Ewing]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> Meanwhile, the higher-level layer is based on the idea of dependency 
> between sequentially invoked commands, rather than dependency between 
> things being built.

This is what bothers me most about the design of distutils,
I think. A setup.py file should be structured like a
Makefile, and processed in a Make-like way.

Martin v. Löwis wrote:
 > Couldn't there be a subcommand of "build" that
 > creates the documentation? Of course, that command would have to do
 > the time-stamp checking,

Which it *shouldn't* have to do. Timestamp checking
is fundamental to any kind of build process. It
should be built into the very foundations of the tool,
not left for each extension to re-invent separately.

--
Greg