[Sugar-devel] Why setup.py?

[Bert Freudenberg]

On 28.04.2009, at 16:36, Tomeu Vizoso wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 16:30, Bert Freudenberg  
> <bert at freudenbergs.de> wrote:
>>
>> On 28.04.2009, at 16:22, Tomeu Vizoso wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 16:16, Bert Freudenberg
>>> <bert at freudenbergs.de> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 28.04.2009, at 15:49, Aleksey Lim wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 03:43:37PM +0200, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>>>>>> On 28.04.2009, at 15:33, SugarLabs Bugs wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> #795: Lack of setup.py in Etoys-101.tar.gz
>>>>>>> Ticket URL: <http://dev.sugarlabs.org/ticket/795#comment:3>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So the "fix" is to include this three-line script:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> #!/usr/bin/python
>>>>>> from sugar.activity import bundlebuilder
>>>>>> bundlebuilder.start()
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That does not make sense to me. Why should each and every  
>>>>>> activity
>>>>>> bundle include the same script?
>>>>>
>>>>> In that case user(not only packager) has a standard way to bundle
>>>>> installed activity(by command "./setup.py dist_xo") despite of the
>>>>> nature
>>>>> of this activity.
>>>>>
>>>>> Packager can have standard way to install it by command
>>>>> "./setup.py install" as well
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> To install an activity, unzip it in the right location. Same for  
>>>> the
>>>> tarball - simply extract it, done.
>>>>
>>>> Activities were specifically designed to not require installation.
>>>> Unzipping the .xo is all that is needed.
>>>>
>>>> If this design changed, someone failed to notify activity authors  
>>>> and
>>>> to update the documentation. If so, please specify how setup.py is
>>>> going to get invoked, and what it is supposed to do.
>>>
>>> I don't think it's a requirement of Sugar, but a convenience for
>>> packagers.
>>
>>
>> But if it is the same for every activity, why can't it ship with  
>> Sugar
>> then? Why does each activity have to include it?
>
> Because the idea is that activity authors extend it for their own  
> needs.

Okay. I'll add it then.

>> And if you insist that an activity should provide a setup.py file,
>> where is the spec? How can I verify it's working and covering all
>> cases? What does it do?
>
> The spec is waiting someone to write it ;)
>
> setup.py exists because it addresses a real need, not to say it's the
> best solution, but works.

Maybe. What does it do? Here is its non-helpful help message:

===================================
[bert at fedora10 Etoys.activity]$ ./setup.py --help
Usage: [action] [options]

Options:
   -h, --help  show this help message and exit
===================================

>> And what will happen if someone invokes it from the etoys git repo,
>> which includes many more files than go into the activity bundle?
>
> TBH, I don't know much about setup.py, but I think you specify in
> MANIFEST which files you want to go into the bundle.


That would make sense. In fact, I previously made a mkDist.py script  
(in the etoys repo) that would call the bundle builder to create an xo  
bundle. It sets the dist_dir variable in the Config object. How would  
I set the dist_dir when using setup.py?

- Bert -