[Python-Dev] splitting out bdist_*

[David Cournapeau]

2009/3/28 Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org>:

>
> Sure, but use for internal distribution is very different from to
> problem its being asked to solve now, isn't it?  IIUC, you're
> basically using RPM as an installer for a standalone application,
> where you set policy at both ends, packaging and installation.  This
> may be a group of modules which may have internal interdependencies,
> but very likely the environment doesn't change much.  Pretty much
> anything will do in that kind of situation, and I don't think it would
> matter to you if there are zero, one, or twelve such tools in stdlib,
> as long as there's one you like in PyPI somewhere.

I myself would never use such a tool, unless sanctioned by my OS
vendor, because I would not trust it not to break my system. But I
think bdist_rpm and bdist_deb solve a real deficiency: no
uninstallation feature. Thinking of it, that's exactly why I like
bdist_wininst so much when I am on windows (and because the
consequences of a bad installer from bdist_wininst seem minimal on
windows, seems everything is one directory).

David