[Python-Dev] PEP 0365: Adding the pkg_resources module

[Talin]

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> I wanted to get this in before the Py3K PEP deadline, since this is a 
> Python 2.6 PEP that would presumably impact 3.x as well.  Feedback welcome.
> 
> 
> PEP: 365
> Title: Adding the pkg_resources module
> Version: $Revision: 55032 $
> Last-Modified: $Date: 2007-04-30 20:24:48 -0400 (Mon, 30 Apr 2007) $
> Author: Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com>
> Status: Draft
> Type: Standards Track
> Content-Type: text/x-rst
> Created: 30-Apr-2007
> Post-History: 30-Apr-2007
> 
> 
> Abstract
> ========
> 
> This PEP proposes adding an enhanced version of the ``pkg_resources``
> module to the standard library.
> 
> ``pkg_resources`` is a module used to find and manage Python
> package/version dependencies and access bundled files and resources,
> including those inside of zipped ``.egg`` files.  Currently,
> ``pkg_resources`` is only available through installing the entire
> ``setuptools`` distribution, but it does not depend on any other part
> of setuptools; in effect, it comprises the entire runtime support
> library for Python Eggs, and is independently useful.
> 
> In addition, with one feature addition, this module could support
> easy bootstrap installation of several Python package management
> tools, including ``setuptools``, ``workingenv``, and ``zc.buildout``.
> 
> 
> Proposal
> ========
> 
> Rather than proposing to include ``setuptools`` in the standard
> library, this PEP proposes only that ``pkg_resources`` be added to the
> standard library for Python 2.6 and 3.0.  ``pkg_resources`` is
> considerably more stable than the rest of setuptools, with virtually
> no new features being added in the last 12 months.
> 
> However, this PEP also proposes that a new feature be added to
> ``pkg_resources``, before being added to the stdlib.  Specifically, it
> should be possible to do something like::
> 
>      python -m pkg_resources SomePackage==1.2
> 
> to request downloading and installation of ``SomePackage`` from PyPI.
> This feature would *not* be a replacement for ``easy_install``;
> instead, it would rely on ``SomePackage`` having pure-Python ``.egg``
> files listed for download via the PyPI XML-RPC API, and the eggs would
> be placed in the ``$PYTHONEGGS`` cache, where they would **not** be
> importable by default.  (And no scripts would be installed)  However,
> if the download egg contains installation bootstrap code, it will be
> given a chance to run.
> 
> These restrictions would allow the code to be extremely simple, yet
> still powerful enough to support users downloading package management
> tools such as ``setuptools``, ``workingenv`` and ``zc.buildout``,
> simply by supplying the tool's name on the command line.
> 
> 
> Rationale
> =========
> 
> Many users have requested that ``setuptools`` be included in the
> standard library, to save users needing to go through the awkward
> process of bootstrapping it.  However, most of the bootstrapping
> complexity comes from the fact that setuptools-installed code cannot
> use the ``pkg_resources`` runtime module unless setuptools is already
> installed. Thus, installing setuptools requires (in a sense) that
> setuptools already be installed.
> 
> Other Python package management tools, such as ``workingenv`` and
> ``zc.buildout``, have similar bootstrapping issues, since they both
> make use of setuptools, but also want to provide users with something
> approaching a "one-step install".  The complexity of creating bootstrap
> utilities for these and any other such tools that arise in future, is
> greatly reduced if ``pkg_resources`` is already present, and is also
> able to download pre-packaged eggs from PyPI.
> 
> (It would also mean that setuptools would not need to be installed
> in order to simply *use* eggs, as opposed to building them.)
> 
> Finally, in addition to providing access to eggs built via setuptools
> or other packaging tools, it should be noted that since Python 2.5,
> the distutils install package metadata (aka ``PKG-INFO``) files that
> can be read by ``pkg_resources`` to identify what distributions are
> already on ``sys.path``.  In environments where Python packages are
> installed using system package tools (like RPM), the ``pkg_resources``
> module provides an API for detecting what versions of what packages
> are installed, even if those packages were installed via the distutils
> instead of setuptools.
> 
> 
> Implementation and Documentation
> ================================
> 
> The ``pkg_resources`` implementation is maintained in the Python
> SVN repository under ``/sandbox/trunk/setuptools/``; see
> ``pkg_resources.py`` and ``pkg_resources.txt``.  Documentation for the
> egg format(s) supported by ``pkg_resources`` can be found in
> ``doc/formats.txt``.  HTML versions of these documents are available
> at:
> 
> * http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/PkgResources and
> 
> * http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/EggFormats
> 
> (These HTML versions are for setuptools 0.6; they may not reflect all
> of the changes found in the Subversion trunk's ``.txt`` versions.)
> 
> 
> Copyright
> =========
> 
> This document has been placed in the public domain.

I'm really surprised that there hasn't been more comment on this.

-- Talin