[Python-Dev] [Pydotorg] Should we help pythonmac.org?

[Barry Warsaw]

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On Aug 19, 2008, at 1:28 PM, Bill Janssen wrote:

>>> My understanding is that if there is a system Python, you shouldn't
>>> change it.  Ever.
>>
>> Huge, big, honkin' +1 from me on that.  Besides, for a system Python,
>> you want your distribution to manage packages, not setuptools,
>> otherwise you confuse -- and probably break -- your system.
>
> I find this discussion fascinating.  I install new packages into my
> system Python all the time, with "/usr/bin/python setup.py install",
> and that includes setuptools.  I've got PIL, ReportLab, Twisted, Xlib,
> appscript, docutils, email-4.0.1, fuse, PyLucene, medusa, mutagen,
> roman, setuptools, and SSL installed in the Leopard machine I'm
> writing from.  They don't wind up in
> /System/Library/.../site-packages/, they wind up in
> /Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/, which is sort of the right place,
> from an Apple point of view.  I do this on lots of Macs -- I've got a
> regular posse of them at work.  And I've never had any problems with
> it.
>
> I agree that there are some things I'd be very wary of installing into
> the system Python, like PyObjC, and Zope.  Usually, I don't install
> anything which appears to already be there.

It probably affects OS X and Windows less than Linux distros like  
Gentoo or Ubuntu because the former don't heavily rely on the system  
python for their basic operation.   You can pretty royally screw up  
the latter if your Python environment isn't just right.

I think it's a /good/ thing that some OS distros are heavily invested  
in Python for their core operation.  We just need to understand the  
best practices when they are.

- -Barry

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