[Python-Dev] 3.5 release schedule PEP

[Terry Reedy]

On 9/26/2014 1:03 PM, Chris Barker wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 5:38 PM, Donald Stufft <donald at stufft.io
> <mailto:donald at stufft.io>> wrote:
>
>>         2) Switch to —user based on if the user has permission to
>>         write to the
>>             site-packages or not.
>>
>>
>>     ouch -- no. Why not a clear error message if pip can't write to
>>     site-packages -- something like:
>     I fairly strongly believe that the current default is doing a great
>     disservice
>     to users. I believe that for *most* people --user is the correct
>     option for
>     them to be using and the fact that it's not the default and requires
>     opt in
>     is a historical artifact more than anything else.
>
>
> OK -- fine -- I think that history may be important -- at least for Py2,
> but I agree that --user is a better default.
>
> But what I'm objecting to is is switching the install mode based on the
> permissions that the user happens to be running with at the time.
>
> None of us should be routinely running as admin. So what I do (and I
> image a LOT of people do) is try to do whatever I need to do, and only
> if I get an error to I switch to admin mode (or add sudo, or ???). What
> I'm suggesting is that folks that simply expect stuff to get installed
> into the usual system python is not thinking ahead of time "oh, I need
> be admin for this", but rather, simply do it, and then, if you get a
> permission error, make the switch to either admin in mode, or add --user.
>
> If we do switch the default to --user, then this issue goes away.
>
> In short -- too much magic is bad.

Pip on Windows should act like a normal Windows program.  If I install 
Python for all users, I expect pipped packages to be installed for all 
users too, unless I specify otherwise.  If installation (for all users) 
requires admin privileges, I expect a UAC box to pop up and ask for the 
admin password.  This is pretty routine, at least with Win7.  Most every 
program I install does this either on installation or on first running. 
  Some Windows operations also pop up a box.  There are only a few 
things that require that I actually login as an admin user.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy