distutils and Debian
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu
Wed Nov 10 23:08:30 EST 2004
Istvan Albert wrote:
> Robert Kern wrote:
>
>> only depend on the main python package. Most packages that need Python
>> *don't* need distutils or the C headers or the static library.
>
>
> The *devel* branch in my interpretation means the distribution
> that contains the files used during the development of the
> application itself. For example the C headers
> that you mention.
But in Debian's consistent interpretation, it means "for development
*with* the library/interpreter/whatever." If I want to compile a C
program, I need to install libc6-dev. If I want to *develop* glibc, I
get the source. Similar strategies are employed by other free Unices'
package systems.
> But it should not mean removing support
> for installing new scripts for the runtime
> application!
If I want to compile a non-Debian program that uses libpng, I install
libpng-dev. If I want to install a non-Debian Python package, I install
python-dev. <shrug>
> Distutils is primarily about installing and distributing
> python programs and it has little to do with developing
> python itself.
And as I said, your interpretation has nothing to do with the way Debian
and other Linux/BSD/what-have-you distributions use the suffix in their
package names.
> Some packages will not
> be installable without the devel branch but removing
> distutils to head off that situation seems very odd.
>
> Istvan.
--
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu
"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
-- Richard Harter
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