[Numpy-discussion] 1.6.0b1 installs stuff in /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/doc

[Ralf Gommers]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 8:52 PM, Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 13:39, Ralf Gommers <ralf.gommers at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 8:32 PM, Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 12:00, Ralf Gommers <ralf.gommers at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 6:33 PM, Orion Poplawski <orion at cora.nwra.com> wrote:
>>>>> I'm looking at updating the numpy package in Fedora rawhide to 1.6.0b1.  It
>>>>> appears to install a bunch of suff in /usr/lib64/python2.7/site-packages/doc
>>>>> (see below for examples).  This seems wrong.  Thoughts?
>>>>
>>>> That is indeed wrong. It's caused by the following in setup.py:
>>>>
>>>>    # we want these files also in binaries/installed files, so it belongs here
>>>>    # instead of in Manifest.in
>>>>    config.add_data_files(('doc/cython/'),
>>>>                          ('doc/pyrex/'),
>>>>                          ('doc/swig/'))
>>>>
>>>> Maybe those three dirs should be moved from doc/ to numpy/doc/ in the
>>>> source tree?
>>>
>>> It's not clear to me how they were included in the Windows .exe
>>> installer originally (the original ticket that led to this
>>> change[1088]). I don't think it was through the generic setup.py. The
>>> proper fix would probably be something specific to each binary
>>> installer.
>>>
>>> [1088] http://projects.scipy.org/numpy/ticket/1088
>>
>> I'm not sure how this was done at first (maybe someone remembers?), it
>> kind of hard to search for that in the history. But something specific
>> for each way of installing sounds fragile. The first question to be
>> answered is where these files should be installed to. The current
>> location is obviously wrong.
>
> Well, the answer is different for each platform. That's why it ought
> to be up to each binary installer.
>
>> If it is under numpy/doc/swig/ etc. then moving them there in the
>> source tree itself seems logical. Those dirs are not used to build the
>> user and reference guides, so there's no need for them to stay where
>> they are.
>
> Linux distributions start to complain when data files (especially
> documentation data files not used at runtime) are placed into the
> Python packages. I would argue that it's the wrong place for them on
> *any* platform.

But they're not documentation files. The line is a bit blurry, but
something like the numpy.i SWIG interface face is meant for using
numpy, not documenting usage of SWIG and numpy (maybe most similar to
what's in core/include/ ?). The actual documentation of how to use
numpy.i is included in the reference guide, and is not present in that
dir.

Perhaps to make clear this is not documentation, put it in something
like numpy/interfacing/swig/, etc.?

Ralf