[AstroPy] POLL: vision for a common Astronomy package

[astropy at liska.ath.cx]

Am 08.07.2011 19:18, schrieb Jonathan Slavin:
>> I think, "standard" for a user meas always "use the package management
>> provided with the system": this is what the user is familar with,
>> especially on Linux.

> That's only true if you have root privileges -- which not all of us
> have.

That's why I said "standard": Of course there are many situations where
the standard does not fit -- it is the same situation if you need to use
the latest version of LibreOffice on your terminal PC and the sysadmin
does not want to install it as root.

However, in case that astropy will be successfully meet its goals --
especially to provide a uniform astrophysical library -- I don't see a
reason why it should not be installed on default (just like, for
example, TeX) in an astrophysical environment. As a astropy developer,
you may of course want to have the latest development version available,
but this is already a special requirement.

> In any case, I think we should have an install option available for
> non-root users.

Definitely. I think just that one should go the standard way as long as
it takes us and only leave it in the cases when it is really necessary.

I think that the solution to provide an option for the use of external
packages is a solution everyone agreed about?

Best regards

Ole