I have to say, as a developer, and a system administrator, I like
setuptools. It does
what I need. Could it be better? Sure. For what I use python for on
a day-to-day
basis it makes my life a thousand times better than it was before
setuptools. Nothing
ruins your day more than spending *hours* tracing down package
dependencies
just to get the *one* package you need to allow you to perform some
crucial task.
It's even worse when you have to do it on multiple architectures.
Perl's package location and installation system (CPAN) is one of the
primary facts
contributing to its success. Perl is a pig. It's a charming pig
that can do lots of tricks,
but a pig none the less. What makes it shine is CPAN. And here's the
catch: CPAN
isn't really any better than setuptools. It's got warts and nuts all
over the place, but
it works.
Without setuptools a lot of people wouldn't be using python. Easily
installing
packages is critical to the success of a language, and setuptools
fills that role
admirably.
[ I think what we really need to focus on as a community is binary
generation
generation. There are several tools out there that work for different
platforms,
but nothing that, well, just works everywhere. I'd far rather have
one of those,
than bicker over a perfectly functional setuptools. ]
-jeff
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