[Python-Dev] setuptools in 2.5.

[Paul Moore]

On 4/20/06, Fredrik Lundh <fredrik at pythonware.com> wrote:
> - they're currently discussing whether to use stricter version requirements
> for individual components, to increase the chance that people end up using
> a combination that someone else has actually tested.

That makes me quite nervous. While I understand that there are support
issues, I don't like the idea of a package that refuses to run, simply
because I have version 2.1 of something it uses, and the package
insists on 2.0 - without any concrete reason beyond "we haven't tested
that version yet". We have to deal with this sort of thing a lot at
work (in a non-Python context), and it's a support nightmare of its
own.

And no, I don't want to install the 2 versions side-by-side. Ian
Bicking complained recently about the "uncertainty" of multiple
directories on sys.path meaning you can't be sure which version of a
module you get. Well, having 2 versions of a module installed and
knowing that which one is in use depends on require calls which get
issued at runtime worries me far more.

[Please note, I have no problem with people who are happy to work like
this. It's just that I don't, and I want to make sure that the new
ways of working promoted by setuptools don't ignore my needs. It's
even fine to consider my needs and decide to not support them, but
let's note the fact that this was done... :-)]

Paul.