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> “if you don't want to use pip” Why wouldn’t you want to use pip?

• mikepurvis 6y ago
  Pip is suitable for use by developers working in python, setting up python workspaces with python sources and python dependencies, but it's a UX fiasco for an end-user who just wants to run a black box application and not have to care. In my particular case the "application" was in fact interactive bootstrap/install scripts for a large, proprietary blob which wouldn't have been suitable for publishing on PyPI, anyway. Setting up a separate, possibly authenticated PyPI instance, and then training end users how to use it, vs just shipping everything together in a single package? Total non-starter.
  • jtdev 6y ago
    Interesting, sounds like a very unique use case. Is containerizing not a possible solution?
    • mikepurvis 6y ago
      That would have worked, but it would have made the whole thing a lot bigger— even a featherweight base image would have added more than what pex was able to do. It complicates the usage side too, as then you need to be root to chroot/nspawn/docker/whatever your way into the container. Definitely a complicating factor was that all of this was meant to be usable by non-nerds and in an environment with limited or possibly no internet access. It wouldn't have been acceptable to download your installer package at the hotel, and then get to site and invoke it only to discover that you were on the hook for a few GBs of transfer from docker.io.
    • mvolfik 6y ago
      This sounds a bit like a GUI application, so containers would bring their own problems. Also you again force end user install docker etc