[Distutils] Re: [Python-Dev] Killing off bdist_dumb

[Guido van Rossum]

> > Aren't zipfiles used as el-cheapo installers on Windows?  I've seen
> > plenty of stuff that was distributed as a simple zipfile, with
> > instructions "unpack <here>".
> 
> Sure, but on Windows, you have bdist_wininst, which isn't any more
> difficult to use, and far superior. People building distutils packages
> for Windows appreciate the fancy-without-efforts installer (I'm one of
> those people myself); I would never consider using bdist_dumb on
> Windows.
> 
> In fact, I thought it was meant for systems like Solaris, where the
> native packaging is not supported. Of course, on Solaris, I would
> expect to get a .tar.gz, not a .zip.
> 
> So even though I do use binutils binary packages, I would not suffer
> from losing bdist_dumb, and I can't imagine anybody who would.

OK, but bdist_wininst feels fragile (especially when I see checkins of
a pile of binary gunk each time something has changed).  Zip files are
a lowest common denominator.

Why do you want to lose bdist_dumb?

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)