Python program distribution - a source of constant friction

[Nicholas Cole]

On Monday, 6 January 2014, Chris Angelico wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:39 AM, Nicholas Cole <nicholas.cole at gmail.com<javascript:;>>
> wrote:
> > But what about the end-user?  The end-user who just wants a blob (he
> doesn't
> > care about what language it is in - he just wants to solve the problem at
> > hand with your shiny, cool, problem-solving application).
>
> This is where OS-provided package managers really shine. It should be
> possible to type:
>
> $ sudo apt-get install shiny-cool-problem-solver
>
> and have it go and fetch Python, the magical library you need
> (matching to the binary architecture of the target platform), and your
> code, plop them all into the right places in the file system, and give
> you a new command "shinycool" that just happens to shebang into
> Python. Well and good. Trouble is... Windows isn't up there. And
> trying to maintain packages for lots of different platforms is a lot
> of work.
>

Even providing packages for (unfamiliar?) Linux distributions is a lot of
work - unless a distribution picks up responsibility for an application.
 For sending applications to end users, something they can just copy
straight into a bin/ directory is a real winner.  The python zip file
format is really good for many things, and from the end-user point of view
extremely low friction.  Even so, things like that are harder to create
than they could be, or less prominently documented than one might have
expected.

Case in point: I have an application a friend/colleague of mine would like
to look at.  I've no idea if he is running Debian or Redhat or FreeBSD or a
Mac.  Assuming I've not used any C extensions, it is *possible* to create
something that will run on all of the above without any fuss at his end.
 It just isn't nearly as easy as it could be, which must be a shame.

Nicholas.
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