[Distutils] Alternate static metadata PEP submission...

[Fred Drake]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Chris Withers <chris at simplistix.co.uk> wrote:
> I think "python setup.py install" is so idiomatic that it seems silly to
> break it for the sake of two lines of python.

Idiomatic, yes.  But it's an idiom that developed as a side effect of
the implementation.

This may well have been a reasonable choice at the time it was made
over a decade ago (and yes, I was there, discussing distutils with
Greg Ward during the birthing, so you can probably even lay some of
the blame at my feet).  That would reflect the youth of Python
packaging more than anything else.

> There's also an element of "explicit is better than implicit"
> in the feel of actually running setup.py...

Running a known implementation isn't explicit?  I worry more about
having to review someone else's ad-hoc setup.py, usually under
deadline pressure, especially given how many variations there are.

Both are explicit; one is less risky.


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.    <fdrake at gmail.com>
"Chaos is the score upon which reality is written." --Henry Miller