[Pythonmac-SIG] Which installer to use for MacPython-OSX?

[Russell E Owen]

>I finally got around to reading up on Package Maker, and I'm a bit 
>disappointed. While it would be almost trivial to create a package 
>with it that installs the right stuff into /Library/Frameworks, 
>/Applications/Python and /usr/local/bin I can't see a way in which I 
>can give the user the option to install everything in their home 
>directory...

How important is it to support users that want to install Python in 
their home directory? I'm wondering if it matters enough for you to 
go to extra work to support it, especially as users can always run 
the unix installer if they want to do something fancy.

How important is it for other uses to be able to create a 
double-clickable MacOS X installer of Python? If this is an issue of 
making it easy for other folks to help you, then it sounds important. 
Otherwise, perhaps not?

On the other hand, I've heard rumors that the package installer is 
not very smart about handling permissions, pre-existing files and 
things like that. This is hearsay coupled with MacFixIt reports of 
early installers (from Apple and others) causing lots of problems. It 
does seem that the installer is smarter now or folks have figured out 
how to work around the worst of the problems, because reports of 
problems now are rare. Could anybody with more experience comment?

Personally, I would suggest that you do whatever is easiest for you. 
If the resulting installer cannot do everything, so be it.

-- Russell