[extracted from pylons-discuss]
> >> I hate to pass the buck, but this is Python's fault for not having > >> reliable package management built in. There's nothing Pylons can do > >> about it except switch to another programming language. > > [SNIP] > > Without Setuptools, > Pylons and TurboGears couldn't exist, and Zope and Twisted > would not have been able to split themselves into several packages. > People coming to Python from Perl and Ruby expect to be able to just > run a command to download and install a package. That problem was > solved ten years ago, so why does Python still not have it standard? > > If Setuptools and Virtualenv or the equivalent were built into Python, > you could trust that every computer that has successfully installed > Python can install packages and make virtual environments the same > way.. > > That would eliminate 2/3 of the problems users have when > installing Pylons, and the subsequent need to explain the problems and > workarounds in the installation docs. At > work people say, "Half the trouble of Pylons is installing it", and I > often have to help them install it in person because otherwise they > get stuck at some error message and have no idea what to do. > Agreed. I would even move ipython (or something like it) to core. Of course, even Setuptools has a long way to go in some areas. (Installation Rollback, for one.) Python is about "batteries included", and these are major "batteries" in most modern environments. A CPAN like "in-house hosted" archive would nice, too. This way, modules have a better chance of outliving the original author's interest/commitment in paying for, possibly non-trivial, web hosting. I'm sure these issues has been discussed to death, but I wonder what the larger Python community thinks. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list