[Distutils] distlib and data files => resources ?

[Vinay Sajip]

Tarek Ziadé <tarek <at> ziade.org> writes:

> and I thought I should bring up that distutils2 has implemented a way to 
> define data files that can be installed in the "right" places on the 
> target system. "right" here being what the linux distros decides, or the 
> default win location etc.
> 
> There is a description here: 
> http://alexis.notmyidea.org/distutils2/setupcfg.html#resources
> 
> I think it's a better system than the data files that are located/and 
> stay in the python package, maybe it would be interesting not to lose it.

I would agree that it shouldn't be lost, but there are some scenarios where data
located in packages might be desirable - perhaps, for example,

- translation files (.mo)
- templates

Particularly where these relate to plugins of some sort.

At the moment distlib functionality is lower-level than pysetup, so I haven't
looked at these issues in detail yet. However, I agree that an important element
is the mapping of logical paths to physical paths in a standardised but
extensible way which is distro packager friendly and also sensible on Windows/
OS X.

Regards,

Vinay Sajip