[Pythonmac-SIG] Package Manager questions

[Ronald Oussoren]

On 9-jun-04, at 22:32, Bob Ippolito wrote:

>
> On Jun 9, 2004, at 4:19 PM, Jack Jansen wrote:
>
>>
>> On 9 Jun 2004, at 17:26, eichin at metacarta.com wrote:
>>> "Problem with dependency: (WriteableBin): This package cannot be
>>> installed automatically (no Download-URL field"
>>
>> As Bob already stated the problem here is the error message.
>>
>> The most user-friendly and technically correct error message would be  
>> something like "The package you tried to install depends on package  
>> "(WriteableBin)", and that is a package I cannot install  
>> automatically for you (there is no Download-URL field for it). Please  
>> select the "(WriteableBin)" package and read the description, it  
>> should contain instructions on how to proceed".
>>
>> Does anyone have any suggestions for saying something equivalent to  
>> this in a one- or two-line message box?
>
> How about a dialog box named "Authenticate" with the following text:
>
> PackageManager requires that you type your password.
>
> It would also have two fields, "Name" and "Password", with a  
> disclosure triangle called "Details", that should show information  
> such as:
> 	Requested right: system.privilege.admin
> 	Application:  
> /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.3/Resources/ 
> Python.app
>
> Additionally, it would have two buttons, "OK" and "Cancel".
>
> What do you think?  ;)
>
> (yes, I know we need a different dialog for WxPython and TclTkAqua  
> dependencies.. but it's retarded that we don't just fix this -- the  
> most common problem -- the right way)

IMHO the existance of (WriteableBin) is a bug in all packman databases  
(*). We could easily arange to install scripts somewhere else (such as  
/usr/local/bin, or /Applications/MacPython-2.3/Extras/bin). This can be  
done using the '--install-scripts=' option of setup.py.

(WriteableLib) and (WritableIncludes) are needed (sadly enough), unless  
we install a modified version of distutils (see the mailinglist archive  
for a method of patching distutils at runtime). While I do think  
distutils should be modified to support multiple include/library  
diretories, I do not think this problem is serious enough to circumvent  
the usual procedures (e.g. we need to find someone who is stupid enough  
to volunteer to write a pep and patch ;)

That said, adding builtin support for (WriteableFOO) would solve some  
problems and interfacing with SecurityServices is not very hard. The  
major problem with these pseudo-packages is that they tell the user to  
perform some "scary" actions, while the wxPython and TclTkAqua  
dependencies can (and do) point to an installer which is much less  
scary for a novice user.

Adding generic support for executing arbitrary code as root would be  
stupid.

BTW. We don't need a different dialog for wxPython, your packaging of  
pygame proves that you can install non-python packages through packman.  
wxWidgets could be installed through packman, and wxPython is just like  
any other random wrapper package (although you need a lot of patience  
or a fast machine when you want to install from source).

Ronald

(*) The problem is in PackMan for 'source' packages, but there is no  
such excuse for 'binary' packages.

>
> -bob
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