[Catalog-sig] pre-PEP: transition to release-file hosting at pypi site

[Carl Meyer]

On 03/11/2013 01:57 PM, PJ Eby wrote:
> I'm saying that if someone objects to the presence of  links they
> don't actually use, they are speaking nonsense.  Might as well ask to
> ban all packages from PyPI that they don't personally like -- it's the
> same request.  Nobody is forcing you to depend on packages that don't
> host on PyPI, so there is no point to the censorship.
> 
> If you don't use the links, you can't argue that their presence is
> causing you harm.

You can, of course, argue that the mere presence of those links
(combined with the current behavior of easy_install/pip) is an
"attractive nuisance" that indirectly causes harm to unsuspecting new
users of Python who never even consider the possibility that tools like
easy_install and pip might spider off PyPI to arbitrary websites (a
reasonable assumption based on experience with automatic installation
toolchains and software repositories in other communities). I've talked
to many such users, so there is no question that they exist, and I think
probably in significant numbers.

Carl