[Distutils] sdist's default file list looks incomplete

[Stefan Seefeld]

hi there,

When generating a distribution, a list of files to be
included is needed. This list is either provided by the
packager (a 'MANIFEST' file), or it is generated by
distutils from its limitted knowledge coming from
existing commands.

The documentation for sdist.get_defaults() states:

"Add all the default files to self.filelist:
           - README or README.txt
           - setup.py
           - test/test*.py
           - all pure Python modules mentioned in setup script
           - all C sources listed as part of extensions or C libraries
             in the setup script (doesn't catch C headers!)
         Warns if (README or README.txt) or setup.py are missing;
         everything else is optional."

I'm wondering why this list is lacking the scripts and data files
that I can provide to setup(). They clearly are part of a distribution,
and they are known to the distribution object, so they could be computed
here. Is that a deliberate choice or an omission ? If the former, why ?
If the latter, should I send in a patch ? (where ?)

Regards,
		Stefan