plugins using cvs/distutils?

[Deacon]

Hi. I have an open-source application development environment that I
would like to enable an automated package download system for (like
downloadable plugins), using sourceforge as its repository. My
software will have a menu-based popup window, that will list the
packages (Applications) available through the project distribution
page. If a user selects a package from this window, it should be
automatically retrieved and installed by the development environment.
My software already has a system for automatically recognizing and
deploying new packages, so I'm only asking for help with distribution
logistics, I think.

I'm thinking that I will use the built-in ftplib to list and retrieve
the files (but I'm not sure yet where to look), and then the distutils
should probably be used in a standardized manner to actually install
the packages, right? I've established a CVS, but I'm not aware of any
built-in-python tools for managing the CVS, and I would rather not add
any new user-has-to-download-dependencies for this. Is there an easier
or alternative advisable approach? I have a linux box, should I be
using it to build all of the platform versions? Any advice would be
much appreciated, this is my first distribution project
(sourceforge.net/projects/spade).

Thanks a bunch,

Deacon