[Python-bugs-list] Re: [Bug #117070] README instructions for configuring Setup are not helpful

[Guido van Rossum]

>   Why the Setup.in/Setup thing at all? Just copying Setup.in to
>   Setup without changes is unexpected enough to warrant mentioning
>   in a paragraph of its own, completely explicitly. The '.in' suffix
>   is usually used for files which autoconf is going to use to create
>   a new file from - you cannot usually simply copy the file
>   yourself. An experienced admin installing Python is more likely to
>   believe the README is wrong than what it tells them to do is
>   correct. Why does the Setup.in file exist in the first place?
>   Surely it should be named 'Setup.dist' (and an identical file
>   'Setup' exist right from the start).

This is actually a good suggestion.  I think this convention is newer
than Python's Setup.in file -- that's my only excuse for why this
wasn't always so.  Thanks!

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)