folks, hi, a number of people using pyjamas are not only encountering difficulties with setup.py endeavouring to download and install "setuptools" but also they are ... the best word to use is unfortunately "offended" - by the fact that distutils, in its default configuration, downloads and even _compiles_ its dependencies - *without consent*.
a copy of the setup.py can be found here: http://pyjamas.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pyjamas/trunk/setup.py this alarming situation has shown to occur on windows, ubuntu and debian. personally, i used setup.py to install pyjamas on a debian system: as i happened not to have python-setuptools installed, i was alarmed to find that setup.py, thanks to distutils, was not only downloading but also attempting to _compile_ setuptools. fortunately, the compile actually failed. windows users have also reported similar failures (presumably because the do not have a suitable build environment, involving downloading and installing a proprietary c compiler) and have also expressed their displeasure at not being consulted as to which bits of software are going to get thrown onto their system without their permission. so it should be fairly clear as to why it is unacceptable for this to occur. the question is: how can it be stopped? what option, in distutils "terminology", tells distutils "please simply tells users that a package is missing, providing them with sufficient information such that they can rectify the missing dependency in a manner which is satisfactory _to them_? answers and guidance greatly appreciated, including telling me that i've made a simple mistake in the setup.py, linked above. l. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
