[Python-modules-team] Bug#546431: s/-setuptools/-pkg-resources/ dependency : also in upstream EGGs?

[Stefano Zacchiroli]

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On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 11:16:51AM +0200, Matthias Klose wrote:
> python-pkg-resources is packaged as a separate package; usually only
> the pkg_resources module is needed as a runtime dependency.
> please depend on python-pkg-resources instead of python-setuptools
> for the runtime dependency.
> 
> There is a chance that this report is a false positive; in this case
> please just close it.

I've fixed this because in fact it is *not* a false positive: the
package in question does not use at runtime other modules than
pkg_resources. Still, I wonder if the solution is as simple as you
claim.

I presume you are trying to make "less needed" python-setuptools at
runtime. Still, packages like this one (but I presume various others) do
have setuptools in their "requires.txt" and, once python-setuptools gets
removed, will end up having an unsatisfied dependency at the EGG
level. Would then work to load, using the EGG system, those packages or
would that fail due to an unsatisfied dependency over "setuptools"?

As I presume the latter, what is the recommended solution?
Patch upstream egg so that it does not declare a dependency over the
full setuptools (because we know that at build-time it is available)?
Or should we rather create a new EGG just for python-pkg-resources and
patch upstream EGGs to rely on it?

TIA,
Cheers.

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7
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