On Friday, March 23, 2012 at 1:35 PM, PJ Eby wrote:
> Tool developers are going "meh" about your proposal because it doesn't
> actually solve any problems for them: they still have to support the old
> layout, and if their code already uses distutils' facilities for obtaining
> paths, there's nothing they gain from the change.
Three notes. FIrst, distutils.cfg doesn't always work because it is centered
around the idea of set paths that are the same each time - which doesn't always
work with virtualenvs. Further, a number of tools find that it doesn't work
(haven't seen it myself, but look at the comments in pypm's installer). So yes,
I patch python.
Second, most installer tools don't follow distutils.cfg. Even if that helps for
python setup.py install, the other tools are still broken when you want to
specify a layout. That is why changing the defaults is the only effective way
to make this change - because the defaults drive what is actually implemented.
I know, because I have looked at and patched these tools to make them work.
Third, there are some tool makers going meh - because you are right, this is
not a problem they have. This is a problem associated with using those tools.
And regardless of there being other ways to do it, including your 'dump it in a
directory' method, development in virtualenvs is convenient, widespread, and on
the rise. Given that pyvenv will go into 3.3, it will be the 'one obvious way
to do it' - making going-forward cross-platform compatibility a positive good.
Again I note the example of buildout.
And fourth, (because nobody expects the spanish inquisition), isn't the
gratuitous difference a (small but) obvious wart? Does anybody positively like
'Scripts'? The most common comment I have received when talking to people off
this list has been, 'yeah, that was always sort of weird.'
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