[Python-ideas] install pip packages from Python prompt

[Nick Coghlan]

On 1 November 2017 at 08:50, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:

> In April 2016, after posting the idea to pydev list and getting 'go
> ahead's from Nick Coughlin and someone else, with no negatives, I approved
> Upendra Kumar's GSOC proposal to write a pip gui.  This was
> https://bugs.python.org/issue27051.  On June 20, Ned Deily and Nick
> Coughlin vetoed adding a pip gui anywhere in the stdlib since it depended
> on something not in the stdlib, and perhaps for other reasons I don't fully
> understand.
>

Clarifying the objection here (since the linked issue is a fairly long
one): what I'm against is tightly coupling the pip-gui development &
release process to the CPython development & release process when we don't
have any compelling reason to do so.

While PEP 434 provides a workaround that helps to keep IDLE consistent
across different support branches, it still isn't as robust a development
model as folks being able to install an application and try it out on
existing Python versions *before* we bundle it with a CPython release.
https://packaging.python.org/tutorials/distributing-packages/ provides a
general guide on how to publish new packages, and the combination of tox
and Travis CI makes it reasonably straightforward to run pre-merge CI
testing across multiple Python versions.

Given an independently released pip-gui on PyPI (with its own version
numbering and release cadence), then I'd be +1 on bundling that as an
optional IDLE addon, ensurepip style. Such a project could also lay the
foundation for switching IDLE itself to a similar bundling model, which
would allow the need for PEP 434 to be eliminated as well (since bundled
applications are already permitted to add new features in maintenance
releases).

Cheers,
Nick.

P.S. I'll also note that a useful feature Travis CI offers is the ability
to automate PyPI releases: https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/deployment/pypi/

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