[Distutils] Splitting metadata from setup.py in distutils..

[Chris Withers]

David Lyon wrote:
> We must resist the option to nest (against unnecessary complexity). 
> ConfigParser does lists easily so you can store a list of files 
> extremely easily.

Cool, what's the format for lists?

> It also does free form text (descriptions).

And for this?

> For me, that only leaves the choice of a filename.. 
> 
>  - setup.info
> 
>  - setup.conf
> 
>  - others..?

...is entirely up to the package developer. We can suggest whatever, but 
since it'll be called from setup.py, we can't do anything other than 
suggest a sensible default that will work with the tools that will 
hopefully show up that only parse the static file...

> Having a setup.py and a setup.info to me seems simple and
> straightforward. It's easier to understand than having all
> the metadata 'hardcoded' in a program (as "cute" as that is).

For some packages (see lxml for example) it's not cute but a necessity 
to figure out how to build their extensions properly...

cheers,

Chris

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