[Python-Dev] Status of packaging in 3.3

[Nick Coghlan]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:57 PM, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
> On Jun 21, 2012, at 07:48 AM, Chris McDonough wrote:
>
>>I don't know about Red Hat but both Ubuntu and Apple put all kinds of stuff
>>on the default sys.path of the system Python of the box that's related to
>>their software's concerns only.  I don't understand why people accept this
>>but get crazy about the fact that installing a setuptools distribution using
>>easy_install changes the default sys.path.
>
> Frankly, I've long thought that distros like Debian/Ubuntu which rely so much
> on Python for essential system functions should basically have two Python
> stacks.  One would be used for just those system functions and the other would
> be for application deployment.  OTOH, I often hear from application developers
> on Ubuntu that they basically have to build up their own stack *anyway* if
> they want to ensure they've got the right suite of dependencies.  This is
> where tools like virtualenv and buildout on the lower end and chef/puppet/juju
> on the higher end come into play.

Yeah, I liked Hynek's method for blending a Python-centric application
development approach with a system packaging centric configuration
management approach: take an entire virtualenv and package *that* as a
single system package.

Another strategy that can work is application specific system package
repos, but you have to be very committed to a particular OS and
packaging system for that approach to make a lot of sense :)

Cheers,
Nick.

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