[Python-Dev] Tools directory (Was RE: Replacement for print in Python 3.0) (original) (raw)

Reinhold Birkenfeld reinhold-birkenfeld-nospam at wolke7.net
Mon Sep 12 11:26:56 CEST 2005

Brett Cannon wrote:

On 9/8/05, Tony Meyer <t-meyer at ihug.co.nz> wrote:

[finding Tools/i18n/pygettext.py] > You're right, I think Tools is probably a bad place for > anything. If it's not part of the stdlib, I'll likely never > find it.

Agreed. Maybe with the introduction of -m in Python 2.4, some of the Tools/ scripts could be put in main sections of appropriate modules? So that "python -m gettext" would be equivilant to "python Tools/i18n/pygettext.py"?

Questionable. Most scripts don't correspond to a single library module.

(However, pyggettext.py is 22KB, which is a big addition to the module; not everything in Tools/Scripts might be used enough for this, or have an appopriate module to be put in either).

Are there other ideas about how Tools/ could be improved? Either moving things, or making it more likely that people will look there for scripts? I assume that the Windows installer includes the Tools/ directory. If it doesn't that is one problem. =) Otherwise it is mostly a lack of advertisement and them not being installed by make install. If you just download the soure and install you will never know the directory even exists. It needs to be made obvious to people that it is even there.

+1. Most non-Windows users with distribution-supplied Pythons will never get the Tools directory on their installs though there is a number of really useful scripts there. Question is, if make install should install it, where? Has the time come for /usr/share/python? Or /usr/lib/pythonX.Y/Tools (without init.py)?

Probably the only way is to document the directory.

I think so, too. The tools are worth a top-level documentation entry.

Reinhold

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