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Features for a Python package manager?

Georg Brandl g.brandl at gmx.net
Sun Dec 26 01:44:08 EST 2004 
Robert Kern wrote:
> Mike Meyer wrote:
>> Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at iinet.net.au> writes:
>> 
>> 
>>>I don't know enough about Portage to answer that question. I do know
>>>any package manager which made it into the standard distribution would
>>>need to work for at least the big three platforms (Windows/Mac/*nix) :)
>> 
>> 
>> Being written in python - and hopefully integrated into Distutils -
>> why shouldn't it work on any platform that Python worked on?
> 
> Assumptions about directory structures, and the like.

That is already taken care by the distutils. The various PEPs already
describe a simple method how to store package metadata, and I will try
to follow these standards as close as possible. Of course, the PyPI
would have to be adapted for that.

> IIRC, Portage was 
> written for the Gentoo project, so it could assume that it was 
> installing stuff to a Gentoo system. Package management systems have a 
> distressing habit of infecting their *architecture* with these 
> assumptions. It makes adapting them difficult.

> Also, Portage needs to execute subprocesses, something which is 
> notoriously platform dependent. 2.4's subprocess module should probably 
> be used here, but I don't think Portage does, yet. OTOH, it's Gentoo, so 
> it wouldn't surprise me, either.  :-)

That's right, but I would just draw the line at Python's standard
library. What is possible with it, is done, what not, is left out.

regards,
Georg
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