How to know what to install (Ubuntu/Debian) for a given import?

[Erik]

On 01/02/17 23:20, Wildman via Python-list wrote:
> On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:29:00 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
>
>> Wildman <best_lay at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:15:13 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
>> OK, no problem, but isn't it very non-portable?
>
> I don't see why not.  It should work on any system
> that has Python3 installed, at least that is my
> understanding.  I'm sure someone will correct me
> if I'm wrong.
>
> OTOH if you want in insure 100% portability with any
> script, you can use pyinstaller.
>
> To install for Python2:
>   pip install pyinstaller
>
> For Python3:
>
>   pip3 install pyinstaller

Out of interest (as someone who grew up on the great 1.5.7 ;)) - is 
there a definitive resource that explains all of the various packaging 
and installation options that exist for Python modules these days (both 
for an author and a user)?

A lot of Linux distributions have Python-related packages (other than 
the language itself) which can be installed using the system installer.

Then there's "pip", which is an installer which is installed using the 
system installer.

Now, apparently, there's "pyinstaller" which can be installed using the 
"pip" installer!

I'd like to understand the differences and how this all fits together.

Thanks, E.