5 ms·
Python 101: easy_install or how to create eggs
- slurgfest 14y agoBe careful: there does not exist an easy_uninstall. So if you have to use it, you had better only use it in a virtualenv (it won't be nice if you install something on the system Python which hoses anything, because you won't be able to uninstall). Also, hope that nothing mysteriously goes wrong, because the error messages tend to be really cryptic and unhelpful. New users should be pointed to pip by default. eggs are really the only feature of easy_install. However, it is easy to think they are more indispensable than they really are. For example, the article implies that eggs are the only cross-platform install method. There is no reason why pure-Python source distributions should not be completely cross-platform. (This also allows you to run on PyPy, etc.) This is really about making binary packages work on Windows. But most major packages have available EXE installers which use Windows' native package management. So eggs are pretty much one approach to a problem that faces Windows, not a uniquely cross-platform solution. I am tired of the politics in Python which is always making people use broken software when there are clearly better alternatives. It is a major people problem with the language and it holds it back in so many ways.