distutils and Debian

[Robert Kern]

Istvan Albert wrote:
> Sam Holden wrote:
[Colin J. Williams wrote:]
>>> Should this be reported as a Debian bug?
> 
> 
>> No.
> 
> 
> I would say yes ... there is no logic in crippling
> a standard python distribution. What else is missing?

It's a matter of Debian policy to split things into runtime packages and 
development packages. A Debian package that needs Python to run need 
only depend on the main python package. Most packages that need Python 
*don't* need distutils or the C headers or the static library.

Debian users know, or ought to, that if they want to compile 
extra-Debian software that needs Python (or whatever) they need to 
install the appropriate *-dev packages.

This is a pretty standard split thats followed by several free UN*X 
distributions (I'm tempted to say "most" but I don't have personal 
experience with enough to do that).

-- 
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