The way different Pythons from PyPI don't work can be, for example that various optional modules are (not) included. For example, for my own Python installs, I

The way different Pythons from PyPI don't work can be, for example that various optional modules are (not) included. For example, for my own Python installs, I build without tkinter. I have no use for this module, and it's always a burden to find the outdated XWidget libraries necessary for this pile of garbage to build. Seeing how this module is basically useless, a lot of Linux distros also exclude it from the Python they package. But PyPI builds try to include everything. There are few more modules like that. Another aspect is various defaults that help Python locate its parts or control its loading. Eg. the site module or sysconf. For various reasons various vendors may configure these differently. This may result in some packages being broken upon install. I.e. Python programmers are notoriously bad at creating packages and understanding how they work (also, Wheel format is a dumpster fire of nonsense). So, a lot of developers don't understand the consequences of packaging anything that's not strictly Python source code (which, frankly, should never have been packaged! but hey, remember, Wheel? dumpster fire? So... where was I...) anyways, native libraries packaged with python source may end up in some random place Python doesn't look at, and consequently fails to load, or other data files end up in the wrong place because the developer packaging them after countless trial and error has made it work on their computer, with their particular Python installation, but they still don't know why it worked. Similarly, if a package wants to provide header files so that other packages can compile against the native modules the package provides... oh-ho-ho, bet you didn't know that's possible, right?! Well, don't bother. It mostly doesn't work anyways. And there's a bunch more stuff like that. As a "typical" user, you might have never encountered any of the issues above, but me, as a Python infra person who's summoned to extinguish fires started by talented Python programmers by using tools like the one in OP deals with this stuff pretty regularly. So, I can relate to the disappointment with any aspect of Python infrastructure. There has never been a case of me discovering something in Python infra and looking at it with admiration. At best it's passable, but in most instances it's hilariously bad.