[Python-Dev] At least one package management tool for 2.7

[Nick Coghlan]

anatoly techtonik wrote:
> If it is impossible to ship the whole package management system then 
> at least Python distribution may carry small bootstrap script for it.
>  When user tries to execute package management tools, it warns him
> that these are not installed and gives a hint where to get them::
> 
>> python -m easy_install bla-bla-bla
> Error: easy_install module is not shipped with this Python release. 
> Please execute the following command to install the latest version.
> 
> python -m easy_bootstrap

Note that this idea has come up before and is *much* more likely to get
traction than including a full package management system.

The nature of package management is such that tying an installation
system to the release cycle of the core interpreter is unlikely to end
well. A bootstrapping tool that only knows how to download a single
specific package would be much easier to keep stable.

Even such a scaled back idea is still far from a certainty to be
accepted though, given the number of people who vehemently object to
duplicating any significant part of the functionality of the system
package management tools (i.e. RPM, apt et al).

At this point, the packaging story is in the hands of distutils-sig and
they're pressing forward with several initiatives that will permit the
construction of more robust and reliable Python-specific package
management systems (such as supporting listing and uninstallation of
installed packages).

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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