[Distutils] sdist default archive format

[Ben Finney]

Trent Mick <trentm at gmail.com> writes:

> > The reverse is true on Unix. The tar-and-gzip format is extensively
> > used so it is pretty much guaranteed to be readable on any Unix
> > system; the Zip format does not have anywhere near the same level of
> > guarantee.
> 
> On what modern Linux and Mac OSes is "/usr/bin/unzip" not installed by
> default?

You ask as though there were a single default for such systems. For GNU
and BSD, at least, there is no such thing.

To answer the question you may have instead been wanting answered: Any
Unix-like system where “get a minimal installation first and then I'll
install just what's needed to support the task this machine should
perform” will not have an ‘unzip’ utility except by mere chance
coincidence with the desired task.

It's certainly not a valid assumption that “I want to set up this
machine for a purpose that needs Python packages” and “I want the
ability to read Zip format files” will necessarily co-incide. On the
other hand, it *is* a valid assumption that any such system will have
the ability to read tar-and-gzip archives.

-- 
 \          “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to |
  `\    another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’” —C.S. |
_o__)                                                            Lewis |
Ben Finney