On Sat, 2008-04-12 at 18:08 -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 10:12 AM, Cliff Wells <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> >  > Virtualenv, although it's not part of the stdlib, is straightforward
> >  > and self-contained.  You don't have to modify the system Python
> >  > library to use it, so I don't see why you consider it incompatible
> >  > with your old environment.
> >
> >  It is incompatible for one simple reason: these are existing
> >  applications.  It's simply not feasible to reinstall a customer's
> >  application with no tangible benefit to them.  Most of them don't care
> >  it's written in Python, let alone that it's not using virtualenv.  They
> >  won't appreciate the "upgrade" and they certainly won't pay for it.  So
> >  more or less, it's an exercise in busy work.
> 
> Who said anything about reinstalling customer applications?  

I did.  In the post that started this thread.

> If
> they're working, they're working.  

They were working until I upgraded the system Python from 2.4 to 2.5.  I
have both versions installed but /usr/bin/python is no longer 2.4.
Hence my original complaint about distutils putting /usr/bin/python as
the shebang line.

The original issue has gotten conflated with our wandering argument, but
I was addressing your specific statement as to why virtualenv wasn't
"compatible" with my setup, rather than the argument as a whole.

Probably I should mention that this system is Gentoo, which means that
upgrading the system Python is an expected thing to do on occassion.

> If you've got a global install of
> Setuptools, it's fine.. at least until you have to install an app that
> needs a different version of a package than another app on the system
> needs.  pkg_resources.require() would be great except that many apps
> including Paster have no place to specify the versions before the
> modules are imported.  You could hack it into the stub  executable,
> but then there's one more problem with installing Pylons apps via
> setup.py -- it overwrites the stub script.
> 
> >  > This is going to be another of those "dumb users" issues we clashed
> >  > about before.
> >
> >  Not especially.  I'm going to dodge it since it's clear you care about
> >  it far more than I do =)
> 
> I feel strongly about it because I've written several HOWTOs that
> needed this as a preamble, and I always feel apologetic about it.

Well, I still feel pretty firmly that what we've discussed is well
within the abilities of even an average Python programmer to handle.  I
certainly appreciate any efforts to simplify development tasks, but I
also have a bit of disdain for the "dumbing down" mentality that seems
to be pervading software in recent times.  If it was hard to write, it
should be hard to use <wink>.


Regards,
Cliff


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