[SciPy-user] We need a system for scipy modularity

[Travis Oliphant]

We need to think about a system for allowing people to install scipy 
modules with more modularity.  In other-words, we should have a standard 
means for installing parts of scipy.

Right now, this is possible simply by running the setup.py script from 
the sub-package directory.   In other words you can install ndimage 
separately by going to (or checking out)

scipy/Lib/ndimage

and then running

python setup.py install

This places the package ndimage in the site-packages directory of your 
installation so that access to ndimage is obtained using

import ndimage

While this is functional it has a couple of problems:

1) Name-space duplication --- i.e. is it a good thing to have users of 
nidimage that have it installed
   in a top-level name-space while other users of the very same package 
have it installed as scipy.ndimage

   It seems like this will create confusion as people begin to look for 
both names.

2) No automated system in place --- no distributions of separate packages.

I am not an egg-expert (I barely know what they do).  I hear rumors that 
they solve all our problems.  But, I have yet to see anything substantial.

So, I'm looking for ideas as to what to do.  There is a demand for 
"modularity" but not very much in the way of an explanation of what that 
"modularity" might look like.

-Travis