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Fri Mar 13 12:56:20 CET 2009 · https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2009-March/087177.html

On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 at 09:58, Chris Withers wrote:
> Martin v. Löwis wrote:
>> >  In light of this, what I'd love to see (but sadly can't really help
>> >  with, and am not optimistic about happening) is for:
>> > 
>> >  - python to grow a decent, cross platform, package management system
>> > 
>> >  - the standard library to actually shrink to a point where only
>> >  libraries that are not released elsewhere are included
>> > 
>> >  I'd be interested to know how many users of python also felt this way 
>> >  ;-)
>>
>>  I don't like the standard library to shrink. It's good that batteries
>>  are included.
>
> If a decent package management system *was* included, this wouldn't be an 
> issue..

I disagree.  One of the jobs I've had is release management for
internal software projects that depend on various external pieces.
Release integration tested against specific versions of those external
packages, and those were the packages that needed to wind up on the system
when the release was installed.  I've done systems depending on both perl
and python, and let me tell you, python is way, _way_ easier to manage.
With python, I have a dependency on a particular python version, and then
maybe one or two add on packages.  With perl, I have perl, and then I
have a gadzillion cpan modules.  I don't know how many a gadzillion is,
because what I wound up doing was making a local copy of the cpan archive,
checking that in to the repository, and writing up some scripts that made
sure I pulled the actual install from my cpan snapshot and supported the
developers in updating that snapshot when we were building a new version.
(Nor was that the only problem with perl....what idiot decided it was
OK to interactively prompt for things during a batch install process?!
And without providing any way to script the answers, at least that I
could find!)

So I'm +1 for keeping the Python stdlib as comprehensive as sensible.
(Please note that last word...I've no objection to pruning things
that are no longer serving a useful purpose, or that are better
managed outside the core.)

--
R. David Murray           http://www.bitdance.com

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