The key problem with Python tooling has been that, for a long time, there was a lack of good standardisation for various common functionalities, and the impleme

The key problem with Python tooling has been that, for a long time, there was a lack of good standardisation for various common functionalities, and the implementation details of independently developed tools became de facto standards: configparser's INI files for configuration [0], pip's requirements file [1] for dependency specifications and lock files, setuptool's setup.py (and later setup.cfg) [2], etc. Only recently, starting with PEP 518 [3], the core team has started a drive to define global standards for tools that affect general segments like building, dependency specifications and the like, which was then continued with PEP 508 [4] or PEP 621 [5] (we are still missing a standard for a universal lock file, but that is arguably a more difficult predicament). Hopefully, most of the common tools will with time converge to use these standards, and switching between them should become a relatively trivial exercise. At that point it won't really matter whether you use Poetry, Hatch, PDM or Rye -- the differences will amount to trivial personal preferences, similar to what we have with cars. [0] https://docs.python.org/3/library/configparser.html https://docs.python.org/3/library/configparser.html [1] https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/requirements-file-format/ https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/requirements-file-fo... [2] https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/userguide/quickstart.html#setuppy-discouraged https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/userguide/quickstart.ht... [3] https://peps.python.org/pep-0518/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0518/ [4] https://peps.python.org/pep-0508/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0508/ [5] https://peps.python.org/pep-0621/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0621/