[Distutils] "Python Package Management Sucks"

[Chris Withers]

(I'll be CC'ing the distutils sig in to these replies as this discussion 
probably belongs there...)

Nicolas Chauvat wrote:
>> The slides for my two talks can be found here:
>>
>> http://www.simplistix.co.uk/presentations
> 
> "Python Package Management Sucks"
> 
> Install debian and get back to productive tasks.

This is an almost troll-like answer.
See page 35 of the presentation.

If you're too lazy, here's a re-hash:

- there are lots of different operating systems

- even with Linux, there are many different package management systems

- all the package management systems behave differently and expect 
packages to be set up differently for them

- expecting package developers to shoulder this burden is unfair and 
results in various bitrotting repackaged versions of python packages 
rather than just one up-to-date version maintained by the entity 
originating the python package

- Adobe Photoshop Plugins, Firefox Add-ons, etc do not delegate their 
management to an OS package manager. Packages are Python's "plugins" and 
so should get the same type of consistent, cross-platform package 
management targetted at the application in question, which is Python in 
this case.

cheers,

Chris

-- 
Simplistix - Content Management, Zope & Python Consulting
            - http://www.simplistix.co.uk