[Python-Dev] In-Python virtualisation and packaging

[Cameron Simpson]

On 13Jun2011 17:31, Vinay Sajip <vinay_sajip at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
| Barry Warsaw <barry <at> python.org> writes:
| > Ah, no I don't think that'll be helpful.  I can probably reuse the python3.3
| > packaging stuff to do a PPA.
| 
| Okay, go for it! Is there a specific tutorial somewhere about making a PPA for
| Python? (As opposed to more generalised tutorials - or would they be sufficient?)
| 
| > (It takes that long because it basically does a
| > `make install`.)
| 
| I realise that, as well as recording what it's doing, but that part seems to
| happen fairly quickly. 
| 
| Then it says "Copying files to the temporary directory..." and that part seems
| to take forever. The whole deb is under 25MB, what could be taking many minutes?

[ wild speculation ... ]

How does it decide what to copy? If it is a "blind" make-me-a-package
tool it may be scanning the whole OS install or something (expensive
but linear) and maybe then doing some ghastly O(n^2) changed file
comparison. Inefficient comparison stuff leaks into the real world all
the time; the Linux kernel installs have a "hardlinks" program which
is one of my pet hates for this very reason - it runs over the modules
trees looking for identical module files to hard link and if you've got
several kernels lying around it is unforgivably slow. Or maybe it loads
the package install db into memory and does something expensive to see
what's not accounted for.

[ end speculation, but nothing useful now follows ... ]

Cheers,
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> DoD#743
http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/

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