[Distutils] PEP: Build system abstraction for pip/conda etc

[Paul Moore]

[I need to read and digest the rest of this, but it's late here, so
that will be tomorrow]

On 9 February 2016 at 23:19, Robert Collins <robertc at robertcollins.net> wrote:
>>> Who / what tool do we expect to use the sdist command in the abstract interface?
>>
>> In the short term, "pip wheel foo".
>> Longer term, if we want to remove that functionality from pip, then
>> whatever command we create to replace it.
>
> So - to be clear - you're proposing that PR 3219 be merged?

It or something like it is how I picture things working, yes. But as
you say there's controversy around in-place builds, so I'm hardly
proposing that we ignore that and merge 3219 without resolving those
issues. Which may or may not be possible without someone rethinking.

>> I do not accept any proposal that removes "pip wheel <source>" without
>> providing *any* replacement.
>
> But the current proposal *DOES NOT REMOVE IT*.

By <source> I had in mind "project name", implying "download from
PyPI". And by "remove" i meant "open up the possibility of people
using tools that don't support easy creation of source artifacts that
can be uploaded to PyPI, resulting in pip not being able to find
something to download".

> We're clearly miscommunicating about something :).

Yes, and that's probably my fault. I need to go back and reread the
PEP and the thread.

But as I said in my response to Nathaniel, it may be that all that is
needed is some context in the PEP explaining how we require[1] people
to upload source to PyPI in the new world where we support build
systems which don't have a "sdist" command like setuptools does.

Paul

[1] I say "require" in the sense of "you have to follow these rules if
pip is to be able to use your source", not "you must upload source" -
although I hope that the number of people actually preferring to *not*
include source in their PyPI uploads is vanishingly small...