[Pythonmac-SIG] PackMan - in defence of Python code in the database

[Jack Jansen]

I started working on a PackMan database for Panther yesterday, and I
ran into two cases that I think I couldn't have solved without the 
ability
to run Python code from the database:

1. binary distributions are specific to the install location of Python,
    they're basically tar files. So, a binary distribution for 
Apple-MacPython
    is different from a binary distribution for JackJansen-MacPython.
    We work around this for per-user installs, but at a cost (such as C 
header
    files not being installed). So, I needed a new test to see where 
sys.prefix
    was pointing.
2. In Apple-installed Python sys.prefix/include/python2.3 is root-owned 
and
    readonly. This makes installers like Numeric fail (which want to 
write there).
    So I needed a new test for this (with the description being an 
explanation
    of the unix commands to run to fix this).

All of these could have been handled in pimp itself, of course, but pimp
is already out there, as distributed by Apple...
--
Jack Jansen, <Jack.Jansen at cwi.nl>, http://www.cwi.nl/~jack
If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution -- Emma 
Goldman