Re: [matplotlib-devel] MPL w/package_data

[Fernando P. <Fer...@co...>]

Andrew Straw wrote:
> I'm myself not 100% sure we want to use this patch, but I think perhaps
> it's better -- people who happen to have setuptools installed don't get
> setuptools-built packages unless they ask for them.

which is a big plus: recently I couldn't get matplotlib to install with a 
plain 'setup.py install' because setuptools was found in my path, but broken 
(as it seems to be most of the time for me: I hate setuptools with a passion, 
for reasons too long to get into right now).

Making sure that the mere _presence_ of setuptools in your path doesn't all of 
a sudden break all manner of things for matplotlib is a big plus.

You could always ship a little script specifically to build the egg, along the 
lines of

http://projects.scipy.org/ipython/ipython/browser/ipython/trunk/setup_bdist_egg.py

Normal builds would be uncontaminated by setuptools, and those who happen to 
like it can just call

python setup_bdist_egg.py

instead of

python setup.py bdist_egg


In the interest of robustness for matplotlib, I think that sandboxing 
setuptools a little more is a good idea.

Cheers,

f