A tool for Python - request for some advice

[TPJ]

First I have to admit that my English isn't good enough. I'm still
studying and sometimes I just can't express what I want to express.


A few weeks ago I've written 'Python Builder' - a bash script that
allows anyone to download, compile (with flags given by user) and
install Python and some external modules (e.g. wxPython, PyGTK,
Numeric...). I use Python every day and when new version of Python (or
some external module) is released, I want to check if my projects will
run on this new version (sometimes I want to know if my projects will
run on specific combination of older Python and some older external
modules...). It happens four - five times a year. Frequently not enough
to memorize all commands used to configure, compile and install all of
this software (so I have to read documentation every time I'm doing it)
- but frequently enough to consume considerable amounts of my working
time. So I thought that writing a script to do it all automatically
(download sources, unpack them, configure them, compile them and then
install them; all of this with options given by me - the user) would be
a good idea.

(It's not about using emerge, get-apt or some another tool of this
kind. My need is very special - I want to have Python, it's modules and
sometimes documentation installed in particular place; usually
somewhere in my home directory. My script installs some additional
scripts which I can use to run Python. These additional scripts have
properly set LD_LIBRARY_PATH so they are able to run Python and
external modules that require libraries installed in non-standard
locations.)

I've written this script in bash, because I thought it would be better
to have a script which would run in environment without Python (it all
was about installing Python anyway!). I used bash, dialog, wget... And
now someone suggested, that I shuld use Python. That using Python would
lead to clearer and - probably - smaller code. (I have to admit it - my
code in bash is just messy.)

And now I'm considering this idea. Python is already present on
(almost?) every distribution today, so why worry about it's presence?
Writing in Python would lead to easier i18n (for now it's all in
Polish...) and to easier implementation of future enhancements (due to
language's features and much more clearer coding style in Python). Well
- I've already found it hard to implement new features in pure bash.

But, on the other hand, I'm thinking that writing in bash is more
universal solution. I mean that requirements to run bash scripts are
lower than requirements to run Python scripts. Could this requirements
be decisive for some users (or is it only my imagination)? Sometimes
users just have no access to Python (e.g. LFS, some stages of Gentoo,
some rescue and specialized distros).


And there's also something more. For now "Python Builder" works in text
mode. It was written in bash and I assumed it should be some kind of
"basic" tool - so text mode and bash seemed to be the best choice. But
if I rewrote all code in Python I could make some GUI. It could works
even better - I could easily check if GUI mode is available and run in
proper (GUI or text) mode. But is GUI needed by people who just want it
to do it's job and quit?


Well, what do you think?