[Pythonmac-SIG] PackageManager philosophy

[Jack Jansen]

Changing the subject on this, because it is important.

On zaterdag, aug 2, 2003, at 00:17 Europe/Amsterdam, Bob Ippolito wrote:
> So this is what you've been doing for every package?!  Wow.
>
> What I do is download a package, chdir to its folder, make sure it 
> builds (if I don't know this already), type makepimp, edit the plist 
> if I need to, and then makepimp sync to upload the new plist ;)

Yes, I already got the impression this is what you did:-)

I think we have rather different ideas on what Package Manager is, and 
it's probably good if we work out whether it can be both.

I think that to you Package Manager is mainly PyPI on steroids: not 
only does it allow the end user to find packages, but it builds them as 
well. The database maintainer once creates the build recipes, and 
hopefully that is all s/he ever does, preferably updates of the package 
should be handled by the package author, or else with as little trouble 
for the database maintainer as possible. Right?

To me Package Manager is a way to split a Batteries Included 
distribution into multiple manageable parts. The database maintainer 
does similar work to what a System Integrator does for turnkey systems: 
combine the parts, test them, take responsibility for the end product. 
I didn't call him/her "scapegoat" for nothing:-) (Incidentally: I want 
to get rid of the term. Anyone a better idea? System Integrator is too 
serious, Database Manager too vague...) That the "database manager" may 
in actuality be multiple people doesn't really matter, to the end user 
they're a single entity with a single email address who take 
responsibility for things in the database working.

Note that "responsible" should be taken with the open source context in 
mind: "morally responsible" is probably as far as it goes, if that far. 
I have been "responsible" for MacPython distributions for a couple of 
years. Not because you could sue me if they don't work, not because I 
did all the work on them, but simply because I created the final 
installer and they have my name on it as the first point of contact.

I'll explain tomorrow why I think the two uses may bite each other, and 
also why I think that having lots and lots of packages may actually be 
a bad thing in stead of a good thing.
--
- Jack Jansen        <Jack.Jansen at oratrix.com>        
http://www.cwi.nl/~jack -
- If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution -- Emma 
Goldman -