[Numpy-discussion] RPMs out of date, have problems

[Scott Ransom]

Hello All,

Debian (unstable -- which is actually quite stable) provides slightly more 
up-to-date packages of numeric (20.2) and its extensions.  You can find them 
here:

http://packages.debian.org/unstable/math/python-numeric.html
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/interpreters/python-numeric-ext.html

For a quick hack at a more up-to-date RPM, it _might_ be possible to use 
alien to convert the *.debs to *.rpms...

Scott

PS:  As an astronomer myself, I am also seeing an increasing interest in my 
collegues towards python and numeric (especially since I keep preaching the 
Python gospel to them ;)

On January 2, 2002 02:29 pm, Joe Harrington wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Problem:
>
> The latest Numeric release on the web site is 20.3.  The latest with
> an RPM is 20.1, and that RPM has a problem: it creates a directory in
> the system root directory.  Paul D. says he will implement a solution
> but doesn't have the experience with RPMs (or the time) to find the
> problem quickly.  I haven't dealt with building Python packages or
> distutils (is distutils a separate thing or part of Python?) at all.
> Can someone with the relevant experience fix the current problem and
> help Paul implement the solution so he can post current RPMs that
> install right?  Ditto anyone who knows how to make packages for Debian,
> Solaris, and other popular package managers.
>
> Rationale:
>
> As I've mentionned previously, I'm getting an increasing number of
> queries from astronomers who want to play with Numeric.  At this stage
> many of the converts will be application code contributors who will
> help build a library of discipline-specific routines.  In talking to
> these people, I am finding them less than patient with the good 'ol
> tarball (a position I take myself, following the experience of
> maintaining the Clue Files, see
> ftp://oobleck.astro.cornell.edu/pub/clues.tar.gz).  To them, it's not
> serious software if it isn't prepared under their system's
> installation manager.  We need these (very) early adopters, so I think
> that having a current Numeric RPM for i386 Linux (and the equivalent
> for i386 Debian GNU/Linux and Solaris Sparc architectures, if someone
> knows how to build them) would be a Good Thing.  Trivial install ->
> more users, more users -> more volunteers and more contributed code.
>
> Also, it would be more consistent with the RPM naming scheme to call
> the RPM "python-Numeric" (or "python-numeric", or even "numpy") rather
> than just "Numeric".  If that's hard or philosophically undesirable,
> don't bother, but the name has changed a few times, so I hope it isn't
> a big deal.  Sysadmins have to deal with more than 1000 packages now,
> and knowing what a package is just by looking at the name is a big
> help.  Also, you can do things like 'rpm -qa | grep python' and get a
> list of all the python-related packages on your system.  "Numeric" is
> too general outside the context of Python.
>
> All of the above goes for Numarray, when its developers are ready for
> the community at large to start writing code that uses it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --jh--
>
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-- 
Scott M. Ransom              Address:  McGill Univ. Physics Dept.
Phone:  (514) 398-6492                 3600 University St., Rm 338
email:  ransom at physics.mcgill.ca       Montreal, QC  Canada H3A 2T8 
GPG Fingerprint: 06A9 9553 78BE 16DB 407B  FFCA 9BFA B6FF FFD3 2989