[Python-Dev] bdist_* to stdlib? (original) (raw)

Trent Mick trentm at ActiveState.com
Wed Feb 15 02:22:14 CET 2006

[Greg Ewing wrote]

MacOSX seems to be the only system so far that has got this right -- organising the system so that everything related to a given application or library can be kept under a single directory, clearly labelled with a version number.

ActivePython and MacPython have to install stuff to:

/usr/local/bin/...
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/...
/Applications/MacPython-2.4/...  # just MacPython does this
/Library/Documentation/Help/...
    # Symlink needed here to have a hope of registration with
    # Apple's (crappy) help viewer system to work.

Also, a receipt of the installation ends up here:

/Library/Receipts/$package_name/...

though Apple does not provide tools for uninstallation using those receipts.

Mac OS X's installation tech ain't no panacea. If one is just distributing a single .app, then it is okay. If one is just distributing a library with no UI (graphical or otherwise) for the user, then it is okay. And "okay" here still means a pretty poor installation experience for the user: open DMG, don't run the app from here, drag it to your Applications folder, then eject this window/disk, then run it from /Applications, etc.

Trent

-- Trent Mick TrentM at ActiveState.com

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