On Fri, Oct 26, 2007 at 03:12:48AM -0400, Matt Feifarek wrote: > Definitely use easy_install for Pylons and its dependencies > > Thanks all. Amazing, something upon which everyone agrees!
Actually not. But I'm a bit tired of voicing my opinion and I can imagine that others may be tired of my opinion either. Python developers tend to rely on ez_setup/setuptools and they are partly right: you get the newest packages with more-or-less proper dependencies in the way that the (upstream) developer intended. But on the other hand Debian/Ubuntu has a very sophisticated software package management for a decade. And it's mostly unwise to install files into your system manually without your software management knowing about it and any chance of ever getting rid of them again. easy_setup/tools is the "I have Windows 95 and if it ever breaks because it couldn't stand 20 pieces of software installed together then I'll just reinstall". Install three different versions through ez_install and then install the actual Ubuntu package, too. Welcome to the mess. If you are serious about up-to-date Pylons programming then consider using an up-to-date distribution branch (Ubuntu or Debian *unstable*). Then you get all the new software without any gotchas. The packages in there are very up-to-date (0-2 days delay). So it's absolutely wrong if people say you can't keep up with the newest versions. If you chose the "stable" branches of your distribution then you did so deliberately because you don't want breakage during a stable cycle. If you can't wait to have the newest versions (and since Pylons is moving quickly it absolutely makes sense) then update your OS. I know that some people complain that software on Debian is too old. No it is not. They just didn't understand the reason why there is "stable" and "unstable". Just imagine what happens if you ez_install Pylons and later some application in your system decides it wants to "aptitude install python-pylons". Yes, you will have two versions on your system and it depends on the faith of the universe which version your application will use. And that's the best thing that can happen. In the worst case you'll bork your package manager because it finds files in places it didn't expect them. There are really only two decent choices: - A bootstrapped Python environment (workingenv, virtualpython) (but closely watch out for security updates because your OS won't care what you do here and if you forget one of them some korean kids will come for a visit) - Using the "unstable" brach of your distribution (risks breakage if you globally update a package on your server but the Pylons application wasn't ready for that version jump) Some people (here) claim that they don't get trouble if they install everything into $HOME or /usr/local because APT won't touch that. And they know exactly whether Pylons is installed using ez_setup/setuptools or via APT. But if you are doing a lot with Python you will sooner or later have APT install some dependency package unwittingly and there you are in the mud. It's not Pylons's fault. It's merely a problem that the creator of the setuptools didn't care for the needs of Linux distributions that come with some kind of package management. Redhat has just recently discovered they have the same problem. So it's not just something a mad Debian developer has come up to confuse the world. :) So for Guido's sake... don't make your OS unhappy. Kindly Christoph --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "pylons-discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pylons-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
