[Python-Dev] Status of packaging in 3.3

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:27:52 +0000 (UTC)
Vinay Sajip <vinay_sajip at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> For me, the bigger problem with the present distutils2/packaging implementation
> is that it propagates the command-class style of design which IMO caused so
> much pain in extending distutils. Perhaps some of the dafter limitations have
> been removed, and no doubt the rationale was to get to something usable more
> quickly, but it seems a bit like papering over cracks.

Remember that distutils2 was at first distutils. It was only decided to
be forked as a "new" package when some people complained.
This explains a lot of the methodology. Also, forking distutils helped
maintain a strong level of compatibility.

Apparently people now think it's time to redesign it all. That's fine,
but it won't work without a huge amount of man-hours. It's not like you
can write a couple of PEPs and call it done.

Regards

Antoine.