[Pythonmac-SIG] Package installation

[Bob Ippolito]

On Apr 18, 2005, at 9:40 AM, konrad.hinsen at laposte.net wrote:

> While installing some Mac applications, I wondered if Python package 
> installation could not be just as simple as application installation: 
> copy a bundle to some folder (/Applications/PythonPackages or 
> /Library/Python or whatever) and use it. For updating, throw away the 
> old bundle and install the new one. For test-driving a new version, 
> put it into a test directory that has priority on the search path. No 
> installers, no passwords, and always a clear view of what is 
> installed.
>
> Unless I have overlooked something, this should require no more than
> 1) A modified import procedure for MacPython
> 2) A new document bundle format for Python packages
> 3) Perhaps some clever code that caches bundle information for 
> efficiency in imports.
>
> An added advantage of specific bundles would be the possibility to 
> include binary modules for different Python versions in one bundle, 
> transparent to the user, although this would only work in practice for 
> a few agreed-upon Python versions that packager would be required to 
> have.
>
> So now my question to the Mac veterans: does this sound realistic? And 
> desirable?

4) Hundreds of hours spent pushing a new format to the rest of the 
Python world
5) Thousands of hours spent modifying existing distutils scripts and 
software to deal with it, since it wouldn't be compatible with the way 
that things normally work, many packages will need special treatment.

The advantage that bdist_mpkg has is that it's compatible with anything 
distutils-based and require no source changes (to either the setup 
script or the package itself).  Most of the time, if you click on a 
package from http://pythonmac.org/packages/ Safari will unzip it and 
open the installer right up... Is it really that hard?

Can users be trusted to put Python packages in the right place on their 
own?  If they have multiple versions of Python installed? I would say 
no.

-bob