[Distutils] Entry points: specifying and caching

[Thomas Kluyver]

On Thu, Oct 19, 2017, at 09:04 PM, Donald Stufft wrote:
> Like I said, I’m perfectly fine documenting that if you add an
> entry_points.txt to the .dist-info directory, that is an INI file that
> contains a section named “console_scripts” and define what is valid
> inside of the console_scripts section that it will generate script
> wrappers, then fine. But we should leave any other section in this
> entry_points.txt file as undefined in packaging terms, and point people
> towards setuptools for more information about it if they want to know
> anything more than what we need for packaging.

I don't see any advantage in describing the file format but then
pretending that there's only section in it. We're not prescribing any
particular meaning or use for other sections, but it seems bizarre to
not describe the possibilities. console_scripts is just one use case.

Also, entry points in general kind of are a packaging thing. You specify
them in packaging metadata, both for setuptools and flit, and the
packaging tools write entry_points.txt. It's not the only way to create
a plugin system, but it's the way this one was created.

I honestly don't get the resistance to documenting this as a whole. I'm
not proposing something that will add a new maintenance burden; it's a
description of something that's already there. Can't we save the energy
for discussing a real change or new thing?

Thomas