On Apr 28, 12:15 pm, John Nagle <na...@animats.com> wrote: > Brock wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > > I know this is most likely a basic question and you will roll your > > eyes, but I am just starting out with Python (hobbyist) and I see many > > tutorials on the web referring to the use of external modules. > > > However, when I locate them, they often come as a zipped folder with a > > number of files. How do I install them? In addition, is there an > > easy way to manage external modules? Some I see require additional > > modules not included. > > There are several different mechanism for handling this, and they all > suck. > The whole Python module distribution scheme is so uncoordinated that there's > no uniform way to do this. It's not your fault. > > There's "python ./setup.py". There are "eggs", which are supposed to > install very simply, but in practice usually fail to install properly, > producing obscure error messages. There are Windows installers. > There's no consistency. > > I'm currently struggling with guiding users through installation > of a Python program I put on SourceForge. I have to explain to them how > to install three different external modules which don't have compatible > installation mechanisms. > > I'm not going to put Python software out for public use again. I don't > have the time to deal with this crap. > > John Nagle > Animats
I've found the eggs thing to work more often than not. But I've seen it fail before too. I'm not sure where tuxagb got the idea that there's usually a Windows installer. If I want something, it's usually more like a 50-50 chance of there being an installer. Anyway, hopefully the snakebite project will help with this a little. Mike -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
