[Distutils] "Python Packaging User Guide" has moved

[Paul Moore]

On 16 January 2014 09:40, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Audrey Roy's "cookiecutter" project is just such a tool (although her
> default config is far from minimal - setup.py, GitHub, ReadTheDocs, tox,
> Travis, documentation skeleton, etc. It's all reasonable recommendations,
> though)

Agreed, I was pointed to that at one point. For me, it suffers from
the problem of being yet another tool, as well as the default template
available being very complex, as you said. But yes, it looks useful
for more complex projects.

I do think the PUG needs a "this is how you start" basic template
though, that includes good practices like the right classifiers, using
entry points for scripts, basic unit tests, a readme etc. The current
guide doesn't even have a "Basic Project Template" section in the
index :-( I'll try to find some time to add one.

On that note, the PUG index currently feels a little overwhelming from
the point of view of someone who just wants to get a job done. it's
got a lot of "Getting started with X" and "What is" sections, but
nothing like "Installing a package from PyPI" or "Starting a new
project". Maybe the index should be reorganised to be more
task-oriented, and less concerned with providing history and
background to the confusion that led us to where we are now? I'd be
tempted to actually remove a lot of what's currently in the contents,
and relegate it to some sort of "background" section (which would
probably need to be organised into subsections of its own, but that
level of detail doesn't need to be on the front page).

Paul