[Pythonmac-SIG] Re: Apple's install vs. a custom install of Python

[Just van Rossum]

Bill Bumgarner wrote:

> As such, making sure that our lowest common denominator is the Apple 
> installation of Python has a huge advantage in that I can ship a 500k 
> application that happens to be implemented in Python-- though the end 
> user won't know it-- instead of a 6+MB application and I can ship said 
> application such that the installation doesn't require more than the 
> ability to drag-n-drop to install.   No admin password.  No installer.  
> Can be used by anyone.

That's great, but has the risk of breaking the app if you upgrade your system. I
prefer to ship some bloat. A small to medium sized (CFM) MacPython app can be
around 3-5 megs unstuffed, 1-1.5 megs stuffed. I don't think that's all that
bad. (I don't know if we can get the same footprint with a framework-based .app
bundle, but it should come close after stripping the binaries.) OTOH, I guess it
depends on your audience how big a deal a larger footprint/download is.

Just