distribute versus setuptools
Following my previous post about switching to use python distribute when upgrading to Python 2.7 via MacPorts, I am curious about the difference between python setuptools and python distribute. Well, with some googling, distribute is apparently a fork of setuptools and distribute looks very community friendly.
For people unfamiliar with the whacky world of Python Packaging, here are two very good articles which will help you understand the back story with these two packages.
- Managing dependencies by Reinout van Rees
- Forking setuptools by Tarek Ziade
And for the impatient who just want to get things done, this quotable quote sums it all up for you… :-)
In case you heard of both setuptools and distribute: distribute fully replaces setuptools. Just use distribute. Setuptools is “maintained” (for various historically dubious values of “maintain”) by one person (whom all should applaud for creating the darn thing in the first place, btw!). Distribute is maintained by a lot of people, so bugs actually get fixed. And “bugs” meaning “it doesn’t break with subversion 1.6 because patches that fix it don’t get applied for half a year”. Be sure to use the latest versions of distribute (and buildout, if applicable).
Looks like I am going to be sticking to python distribute from now on.