[Catalog-sig] Questions regarding PyPi usage (user feedback)

[Mike C. Fletcher]

In beginning to use PyPi this evening I've come up with a set of 
questions that I'd guess will be commonly asked when people start using 
the engine, as I've had them myself (I've also tried to glean the 
answers and add them after the questions):

    * What should the keyword format be?
          o Comma-separated list of keywords
          o Nice to have sample on the input page or in a tutorial to
            give an idea of desired length, format and depth, for
            instance, here's what I'm planning for PyOpenGL:
                + 'Graphics,3D,OpenGL,GLU,GLUT,GLE,GLX,WGL,TOGL,EXT,ARB,Mesa'
    * What should the classifiers format be?
          o Python list of SourceForge-style classifier strings.
          o How does one specify this in a .cfg file?
                + I assume as a set of multiple key=value sets?
    * Boilerplate code for determining download URL for SourceForge?
          o This seems to be used as "a website from which you can
            download", rather than a URL to a package which can be
            downloaded.  Is there another attribute which means e.g.
            (URL from which to download binary Python 2.2 Win32 package)?
                + It would require some internal knowledge of distutils
                  to determine what the final filename will be for a
                  particular version, then some code to create the
                  download URL from that information, and that would be
                  best done by someone who knows distutils.
    * What is the definition of "maintainer" vs. "author" (in PyPi) vs.
      "packager" (used elsewhere in distutils world IIRC)?
          o Author -- copyright holder(s)?
          o Maintainer -- current developers?
          o Packager -- one who takes source to build binary for
            package, but is neither author nor maintainer?
    * How does one test for format and completeness without attempting
      to register the package?
          o Is there a scrub-server? A flag to say "just testing"?
          o It looks as though test is done before running register. 
          o Don't see a "testing" flag in quick scan.
    * How does one specify Python version for a particular package (i.e.
      built for Python 2.2, but not 1.5.2)?
          o You don't.
    * How does one include a public key signature for a package?
          o You don't as-of-yet.
    * How does one specify format (e.g. Src .zip, Src .tgz, Binary, Src
      RPM, etceteras)
          o You don't.

Anyway, that's all the questions I've had so far this evening.  Thanks 
all for working on the project. Hope this was helpful in some way,
Mike

_______________________________________
  Mike C. Fletcher
  Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
  http://members.rogers.com/mcfletch/