[Python-ideas] High time for a builtin function to manage packages (simply)?

[Chris Angelico]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 3:03 AM, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hmm. This looks like something that could confuse people no end. I
>> already see a lot of people use Ctrl-Z to get out of a program (often
>> because they've come from Windows, I think), and this would be yet
>> another way to get lost as to which of various Python environments
>> you're in. Is it safe to have Python exec to another process? That
>> way, there's no "outer" Python to be left behind, and it'd feel like a
>> transition rather than a nesting. ("Please note: Selecting a virtual
>> environment restarts Python.")
>
> Using subprocess.call() to invoke vex was something I could do without
> writing a single line of code outside the REPL. An actual PEP would
> presumably propose something with a much nicer UX :)

Heh, fair enough! Mainly, though, I'm wondering whether there'd be any
risks to using os.exec* from the REPL - anything that would make it a
bad idea to even consider that approach.

ChrisA