[Python-Dev] Keyword meanings [was: Accept just PEP-0426]

[Barry Warsaw]

On Dec 05, 2012, at 04:10 PM, PJ Eby wrote:

>While it's certainly desirable to not invent wheels, it's important to
>understand that the Python community does not work the same way as a
>Linux distribution.  We are not a single organization shipping a
>fully-functional and configured machine, we are hundreds of individual
>authors shipping our own stuff.  Conflict resolution and package
>replacement (and even deciding what it is that things "provide" or
>"require") are primarily *human* processes, not technical ones.
>Relationship and support "contracts", IOW, rather than software
>contracts.
>
>That's why, in the distro world, a package manager can use simple
>fields to carry out the will of the human organization that made those
>support and compatibility decisions.  For Python, the situation is a
>bit more complicated, which is why clear thinking is needed.  Simply
>copying fields blindly from other packaging systems just isn't going
>to cut it.

+1

>Now, if the will of the community is to turn PyPI into a distro-style
>repository, that's fine...

Please no!  -1 :)

-Barry