[Python-Dev] Packaging and binary distributions for Python 3.3

[Vinay Sajip]

Martin v. Löwis <martin <at> v.loewis.de> writes:

> In particular wrt. virtual environments: I see no need to actually
> *install* files multiple times. It's rather sufficient that the 
> distributions to be installed are *available* in the virtual env after
> installation, and unavailable after being removed. Actually copying
> them into the virtual environment might not be necessary or useful.
> 
> So I envision a setup where the MSI file puts the binaries into a place
> on disk where pysetup (or whatever tool) finds them, and links them
> whereever they need to go (using whatever linking mechanism might work).
> For MSI in particular, there could be some interaction with pysetup,
> e.g. to register all virtualenvs that have linked the installation,
> and warn the user that the file is still in use in certain locations.
> Likewise, automated download might pick an MSI file, and tell it not
> to place itself into the actual Python installation, but instead into
> a location where pysetup will find it.

While it seems a little inelegant, copying might actually be simpler and less
error-prone. Firstly, AFAIK you can't do true symlinks in relatively recent,
widely-used versions of Windows like XP. Also, while some people use virtualenvs
in a central location (such as virtualenvwrapper users), others have their envs
under a project folder. I don't know that the complication of a centralised
registry of virtual envs is necessarily a good thing.

Regards,

Vinay Sajip