[Python-Dev] Great Renaming? What is the goal?

[Moshe Zadka]

On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Gordon McMillan wrote:

> What would happen if he (and everyone else) installed 
> themselves *into* my core packages, then I decided I didn't 
> want his stuff? More than likely I'd have to scrub the damn 
> installation and start all over again.

I think Greg Stein answered that objection, by reminding us that the
filesystem isn't the only way to set up a package hierarchy. In
particular, even with Python's current module system, there is no need to
scrub installations: Python core modules go (under UNIX) in
/usr/local/lib/python1.5, and 3rd party modules go in
/usr/local/lib/python1.5/site-packages. Need to remove stuff? Remove
whatever is in /usr/local/lib/python1.5/site-packages. Need to upgrade?
Just backup /usr/local/lib/python1.5/site-packages, remove
/usr/local/lib/python1.5/, install, and move 3rd party modules back from
backup. This becomes even easier if the standard installation is in a
JAR-like file, and 3rd party modules are also in a JAR-like file, but
specified to be in their natural place.

Wow! That was a long rant!

Anyway, I already expressed my preference of the Perl way, over the Java
way. For one thing, I don't want to have to register a domain just so I
could distribute Python code <wink>

--
Moshe Zadka <mzadka@geocities.com>. 
http://www.oreilly.com/news/prescod_0300.html
http://www.linux.org.il -- we put the penguin in .com